Catholics in China, which for decades had been persecuted by the communist government. There are an estimated more than 10 million Catholics in China, with six million belonging to the CPCA according to official statistics.

While the details of the agreement have not been released, the Vatican is believed to have accepted joint authority on the selection of bishops with Communist party authorities. Seven bishops illicitly ordained in the Communist-run church were brought into full communion with the Vatican after the deal was agreed with underground bishops being asked to step aside by the Holy See.

There have been reports of continued persecution of the underground Church in China after the Vatican-China agreement. A report of the U.S. China Commission found that, in 2018 and 2019 conditions for underground Catholicsremained poor and had arguably gotten worse.

In the Diocese of Mindong, the underground Bishop Vincent Guo Xijin stepped aside for Bishop Vincent Zhan Silu, one of the seven bishops brought into communion with the Holy See under the 2018 agreement.

Bishop Guo, however, refused to register with the CPCA. After his residence was confiscated by authorities, Guo has reportedly been left homeless and is run from government authorities.

Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, the bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, has been a vocal critic of the Vatican-China deal. He told CNA in February that “the Vatican lost everything, and got nothing.”

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the new dean of the College of Cardinals, countered in a letter to cardinals in late February that Pope Benedict XVI and Pope St. John Paul II