Archishop Viganò Slams Vatican-China Deal on Conclave Eve

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, a former apostolic nuncio, or Vatican diplomat, to the U.S., accused China's communist government of violating a "secret" agreement with the Holy See arranged during Pope Francis' tenure by appointing two bishops following Francis' death on April 21.

In an editorial published Monday by LifeSite, Viganò wrote that millions of persecuted Chinese Catholics are being betrayed by "corrupt clergymen" backing Beijing's communist regime, compromising the Catholic faith and independence of the church.

Although Beijing authorized Cardinal Joseph Zen to travel to Rome for Francis' funeral and the pre-conclave, the Chinese Communist Party violated the agreement by appointing two bishops without consulting the Vatican, Viganò wrote. On April 28, the Rev. Wu Jianlin, vicar general of Shanghai, was named the city's auxiliary bishop by an assembly of local priests, according to The Catholic World Report. The next day, the Rev. Li Jianlin was elected bishop of the Diocese of Xinxiang.

"Both appointments, coming from the schismatic 'patriotic church,' were made in clear violation of the terms of the secret agreement that the Vatican signed with the Beijing government in 2018 and renewed in 2020, 2022, and 2024 for four years," Viganò wrote. "The clauses of this agreement – which is officially secret, although some details have leaked out – are said to provide on the one hand that the Holy See recognizes the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association as part of the Catholic Church and that the Chinese Communist Party has the authority to appoint its bishops; and on the other hand, that the pope should be recognized to have – at least in theory – the right to veto such appointments and to ratify the removal of legitimate bishops that the Communist Party intends to replace with other bishops of its own nomination."

Viganò wrote that if the Vatican, before Francis, did not agree to sign a deal with China, it is because of differences in doctrinal and canonical aspects "that no pope can elude or modify in their substance."

"The Chinese 'patriotic church' is a schismatic state entity, whose 'bishops' are not appointed with papal approval," Viganò wrote. "As long as the Chinese communist government insists on continuing to interfere in the jurisdiction of the Holy See by nominating its own 'bishops' and deposing those nominated by the Pope, no agreement is possible.

"This led to an open persecution of Catholics – lay people, clergy, and bishops – to which the only possible response was public words of condemnation by the Popes, the pressure of international diplomacy, and the application of sanctions by Western nations against China for human rights violations."

He blamed John Podesta, White House chief of staff for Bill Clinton and a former adviser to Barack Obama and Joe Biden, for being an enthusiastic supporter of trade relations between the Vatican and China.

"His interventions – which followed the line dictated by the Clinton, Obama, and Biden administrations – provide confirmation of Beijing's ability to have its own agents within the government of the United States of America who supported China's entry into the World Trade Organization," Viganò wrote.

Viganò wrote Francis' heirs – he singled out Vatican City Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Matteo Zuppi, the archbishop of Bologna, Italy – "want to ensure the support of the powerful of the Earth because the communist model of a national church under government control allows the realization of their idea of the church."

"They consider this state church as the most effective instrument to impose the heretical vision of [Francis] synodality, behind which hides the same tyrannical nature of the Chinese regime and the globalist elite," he wrote.