What Is the Vatican China Holy See Deal

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LARGEST RELIGION IN THE WORLD

Chinese Communist Party came to power in 1949
On 1 October 1949, Chairman Mao Zedong announced the 21 September 1949 establishment of the PRC before a massive crowd at Beijing Square.
At that time China had 3 million Christians

Since there were many Christians in China, the Vatican had appointed many Bishops in the country as well
Bishops(Orthodox and Catholic) are priests who will be in charge of a diocese( a district under the pastoral care of a bishop in the Christian Church).

Chinese Communist Party did not like the influence of Christianity in China
One major reason behind this was –most Bishops in China were of foreign origin
Chinese Communist party believed that these Bishops can also be used by the west to spread the ideas of democracy and liberty in China

The Beijing government broke off diplomatic relations with the Holy See in 1951 after a complicated incident.
Throughout 1950 and 1951, China had been putting pressure on the Vatican by threatening a breakaway of “independent Catholics”, but many priests opposed the movement

The Beijing government has set two conditions for re-establishing the relations: that the Holy See “not interfere in religious matters in China” and that, in line with Beijing’s One-China policy, it break the ties with the Taipei government that it established after the expulsion of Archbishop Riberi, ties that, since the United Nations’ recognition of the Beijing government as the government of China, it now maintains only at the level of chargé d’affaires.

On 22 September 2018, Chinese government and the Vatican signed a historic agreement concerning the appointment of bishops in China.
They did not establish diplomatic relations and the Vatican maintained diplomatic ties with the Republic of China on Taiwan, which the People’s Republic of China does not recognize.

While the agreement states that China will recommend bishops before they are appointed by the pope, it also stipulates that the pope has authority to veto a bishop China recommends.
Francis then approved seven bishops who had been appointed by Beijing, after withdrawing church censures against those six and one recently deceased bishop, who had all received episcopal consecration without papal approval.

Vatican get at least some authority over Bishops inChina.This was seen as a progress.
Other than that some dissidents from China have accused the Vatican of taking monetary favours from Chinese Government

Pompeo urged the Holy See to join the United States in denouncing violations of religious freedom in China, part of the broader U.S. campaign to criticize Beijing’s crackdown on religious and ethnic minorities.
Gallagher, the Vatican foreign minister, was in the audience at the time of his speech and didn’t refer at all to China in his remarks.