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By Micah McCartney
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As Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost dons the mantle of Pope Leo XIV, he faces the daunting task of leading the Holy See in navigating a fraught international landscape.
This will involve diplomatic relations with countries that pose long-standing unresolved issues—not least of which is China.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry waited a full day before issuing a brief, to-the-point message of condolence following Pope Francis's passing on April 22. As of this writing, it had yet to congratulate the new Pope Leo XIV.
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Newsweek reached out to the Vatican via email for comment outside of office hours.
Divided Flock, Contested Authority
Beijing has a long history of skepticism toward organized religion, which involves an authority other than the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
An estimated 6 million Chinese belong to the country's state-approved Catholic Church, overseen by the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. Another 6 million are believed to be members of the underground Church, putting the total number of faithful on par with the population of Belgium.
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It is unclear how the incoming pontiff will approach a provisional power-sharing agreement with China, worked out during Francis's tenure in 2018 and renewed last year. The deal allows Chinese authorities to appoint bishops to the state-sanctioned Church, with the Vatican—on paper—retaining the authority to approve or veto these selections.
Pope Francis defended the agreement as an imperfect but important means of maintaining ties. "I have opted for the way of dialogue. It is slow, it has its failures, it has its successes, but I cannot find another way," he said in a 2022 interview.
That same year, the Vatican accused China of breaking faith with the agreement by appointing a bishop to lead a diocese not recognized by the Church. In 2023, Beijing installed another bishop to lead the Diocese of Shanghai without consulting the Vatican, though Francis later recognized the appointment.
The 2018 agreement was not without its critics. One clergyman, Father Bernardo Cervellera of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, said in a 2018 interview with The New York Times: "Or those that are in jail, or those who don't want to belong to the patriotic church—what will happen to them?"
On Friday, the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., outlined its hopes for future engagement with the Holy See.
"We congratulate Cardinal Robert Prevost on his election as the new Pope," Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the U.S., told Newsweek.
"We hope that under the leadership of the new Pope, the Vatican will continue to engage in dialogue with China in a constructive spirit, have in-depth communication on international issues of common concern, jointly promote the continuous improvement of China-Vatican relations, and contribute to world peace, stability, development, and prosperity," he said.
Religion Under Pressure
Catholics in China are not the only Christians subject to heightened scrutiny. Religion in general has become increasingly under siege, activists say.
Bob Fu, founder of Texas-based ChinaAid—a group that provides legal aid to Christians in China—says persecution under Chinese leader Xi Jinping has reached levels not seen since the Cultural Revolution during the era of Mao Tse-tung.
"In addition to the genocide of groups such as Uyghurs and Tibetans, Chinese Christians are experiencing the worst persecution since the Cultural Revolution," Fu said during a July 2024 religious summit in Tokyo, Japan.
Fu said this clampdown has primarily been carried out in the name of "sinicization," with churches and mosques required to sing songs praising the party and hang up photos of Xi and Mao at church pulpits.
In 2018, the paramilitary People's Armed Police used dynamite and excavators to demolish a church in Linfen, Shanxi province, that served a congregation of 50,000. Authorities claimed the megachurch—built nearly a decade earlier—violated building codes, a common justification used against unregistered churches.
Taiwan
Another point that strains ties with China is the fact the Vatican remains one of only a dozen official allies of Taiwan, the self-ruled democracy China claims as its territory—and has vowed to someday annex by force if necessary.
Taiwan's government, officially the Republic of China, fled to the island after losing the Chinese civil war to Mao's communists in 1949. China has lured away Taiwan's dwindling diplomatic allies one by one.
The issue is likely to remain a point of contention as China continues its campaign of military, economic, and diplomatic pressure against its neighbor.
"On behalf of Taiwan's government and people, I sincerely congratulate Pope Leo XIV and wish His Holiness wisdom and grace in his new mission," President of Taiwan Lai Ching-te said in a statement on Friday. "We look forward to building on our diplomatic ties with the Holy See, 83 years strong, to advance peace, justice, solidarity, and benevolence."
Matthew Lee, Taiwan's outgoing ambassador to the Holy See, has suggested that bilateral ties will continue on their current path. Recalling a 2023 conversation with the then-cardinal, Lee told Taiwan's Central News Agency that Leo understood the difference between "democratic Taiwan and communist China."
Update 5/12/25, 1:38 p.m. ET: This article was updated with a comment from the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C.
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