Editor\u2019s Note: There are an <\/em>estimated<\/em><\/a> 10-12 million Catholics in mainland China, spread across 147 ecclesiastical jurisdictions recognized by the Vatican, including 20 archdioceses and 97 dioceses. In recent years there has been a significant increase in the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s monitoring and control of Catholic worship. This campaign of control has been criticized as a violation of religious freedom by a number of human rights experts, including the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in its <\/em>2024 annual report<\/em><\/a>. During a stopover in Beijing in April, Register contributor Victor Gaetan set out to visit several government-registered Catholic parishes in China\u2019s capital as the faithful celebrated Easter. This is his report.<\/em><\/pre>\n\n\n\nBeijing, China\u00a0(INPS Japan) \u2014\u00a0While planning a research trip to Japan, I learned Americans can visit China for up to 144 hours, six days, without a visa while \u201ctransiting\u201d to another country. A few conditions exist \u2014 you have to have a ticket for an onward destination, you can\u2019t leave your \u201cport of entry\u201d (one of 20 cities with this policy), and you must report where you will stay \u2014 but it meant a welcome chance to witness the Catholic Church in China on my way to Tokyo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s how I ended up celebrating Easter Vigil Mass in three Beijing cathedrals. I\u2019ve read and written about the Church in China for years, but nothing prepared me for the grace of worshiping with Chinese brothers and sisters in Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The churches I visited were packed with people of all ages, mainly young men and women and many children \u2014 several thousand in all. They sang and prayed with devotion. This after being filmed by uniformed police and required to pass through metal detectors to enter church grounds. No one resisted, nor did I see anyone walk away to avoid scrutiny. Isn\u2019t this an affirmation of faith? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A surreal balance exists between accepting state monitoring and confessing one\u2019s faith without fear, which reminded me of Matthew 22: \u201cThen repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.\u201d Believers simply seem to take the state\u2019s presence in stride. Their full-throated participation at Mass created a particularly moving experience of worship. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although very few non-Chinese people attended the vigils, my participation attracted little attention. When I tried to take a photo of Archbishop Joseph Li Shan at North Church, an usher stopped me. Then, he agreed to take my cell phone and take the picture for me! I was told \u201cforeigners\u201d normally attend liturgies offered in English or other languages. <\/p>\n\n\n
\nFather Ricci arrived in China in 1583, one of the first Jesuit missionaries to the Middle Kingdom. His statue stands at the entrance to South Church grounds, where he lived from 1605 until his death in 1610, while advising the Chinese emperor.(Photo: Courtesy photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n After Mass, church courtyards were animated with socializing, praying before statues of saints, buying sacramentals at card tables manned by nuns, and lay performances. By then, police had largely decamped. Each church offers several Masses a day. Each time I went, I saw five or six priests and two deacons on the altar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The following pictures, most taken quickly and discreetly, show a healthy, faithful, Catholic community in China, with eyes steadily focused on the City of God. For the Easter Vigil, I visited three historic Catholic cathedrals, known locally as South Church, North Church, and West Church. Between the three churches, 267 new believers joined the faith that night among the three churches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Easter Day, I returned to South Church, where it was easier to mingle with parishioners. One young usher told me she was an airport engineer. \u201cI come to Church as often as possible because I love Jesus,\u201d she explained. \u201cCatholic priests brought the Bible here a long time ago.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She added, \u201cMainland China has many beautiful churches and pilgrimage sites worth visiting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Church repairs mean Stations of the Cross on Good Friday was moved to the church courtyard. People of all ages participated.(Photo: Courtesy photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Believers continue praying the stations with a church booklet after the Good Friday procession ended.(Photo: Courtesy photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Laypeople take turns testing the feeling of carrying a cross on Good Friday at South Church.(Photo: Courtesy photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n The pascal candle is lit outside the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, which was closed during the Cultural Revolution, from 1966 to 1979.(Photo: Courtesy photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Lighting the pascal candle outside the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.(Photo: Courtesy photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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