Pope Francis and China

The death of Pope Francis on Easter Monday, April 21, has brought forth moving expressions of grief, gratitude, and respect from people around the world. These serve as a testament to his ability to touch the hearts of people of different faiths, and of no faith, because he placed such a strong emphasis in his teaching and actions on our shared humanity and the values of kindness, compassion, and mercy.

Many recent commentaries on Francis’s legacy and the challenges that will face our newly elected pope, Leo XIV, rightfully highlight his outreach to the “peripheries.” In geographic terms alone, Francis made 47 trips abroad, in which he visited 66 countries, including many in Africa, South America, and Asia, the so-called global south where many of the majority populations are not Christian, although the Catholic Church is growing in many countries. He visited 10 countries in east and southeast Asia, but not the People’s Republic of China, a country especially close to his heart and high on his wish list. Commentaries often highlight his efforts to reach out to China, is often highlighted, both because they were particularly strong, and, as is well known, controversial.

In the fall 2024 issue of ChinaSource Quarterly (now ChinaSource Journal) we offered a more comprehensive look both at the historical sufferings and triumphs, as well as the present realities facing the Catholic Church in China. We included viewpoints both for and against the controversial “Provisional Agreement on the appointment of Bishops” between the Holy See and PRC authorities, first signed in 2018, and renewed for the third time in September 2024, effective for four years.¹ Here I will not repeat these views (and I encourage readers to read them in the fall issue), but rather simply comment that, however one views his overtures toward China, Francis’s approach was, judging from his own words and actions, born from a sincere desire to 1) support and promote the preaching of the Gospel in China, and 2) establish full and visible unity in the Church.²

His Words

Francis made clear his rationale for making a good-faith effort to reach an agreement with Chinese authorities, and defended it until the end. In his 2018 message to the Catholics of China, which accompanied the signing of the Provisional Agreement, as well as in subsequent comments in support of its renewal, Francis acknowledges the challenges and outright violent persecutions faced by Chinese Catholics in the past. He also acknowledges the feelings of “doubt and perplexity” felt by many Catholics upon hearing about the impending agreement, specifically those who feel “somehow abandoned by the Holy See and anxiously question the value of their sufferings endured out of fidelity to the Successor of Peter.”³

Nevertheless, he said that, like Abraham, one must trust in God and set out on the journey with “pure faith” even when social and political conditions were not ideal. He commented, “It was not historical changes that made [Abraham] put his trust in God; rather, it was his pure faith that brought about a change in history.”⁴ He and other church leaders who worked on the agreement believed that, though imperfect, it was a necessary first step that they hope will eventually bear fruit. Francis assured China’s Catholics that he prayed for them daily, and made decisions, even those felt as painful by China’s faithful, namely the decision to accept the ordinations of seven “official” bishops originally ordained without papal mandate, after “much time [spent in] reflection and prayer, seeking the true good of the Church in China.”⁵

Arguments have been made both for and against viewing the situation this way and taking this approach, a “journey” that Francis himself says (quoting his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, “requires time and presupposes the good will of both parties.”⁶ Regardless of whether or not one agrees with the approach, however, Francis’s words make clear his desire to “heal the wounds of the past, restore full communion among all Chinese Catholics, and lead to a phase of greater fraternal cooperation, in order to renew our commitment to the mission of proclaiming the Gospel. For the Church exists for the sake of bearing witness to Jesus Christ and to the forgiving and saving love of the Father.”⁷ These words reveal the heart of a pastor who cares for his flock and wants the Church to succeed and flourish in its mission.

His Actions

When we look at Pope Francis’s express wishes to visit China, combined with his many trips to Asia, we can say that he backed up his words with actions. As recently as August 2024, in a video interview he discussed his desire to visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Sheshan, near Shanghai.⁸ He mentioned that in his office he keeps an image of Our Lady of Sheshan, a unique image in which the Blessed Virgin Mary holds the baby Jesus up over her head. The statue stands atop the basilica near China’s east coast, facing west toward the interior, indicating that she is holding Jesus up for all of China to see.

In the end, Francis did not realize his dream of becoming the first pope to visit China. He did, however, become the first to fly over Chinese airspace, twice, with the permission of China’s authorities. In August 2014 during his flight to South Korea, and again in August 2023 during his flight to Mongolia, the pope sent messages of goodwill to the Chinese authorities and people, as is customary for popes when they fly over a country.⁹ Those trips became two of the closest Francis would come to China geographically (along with Myanmar), among a total of 10 countries he visited in east and southeast Asia, including:

• South Korea (August 2014)
• Myanmar, Bangladesh (November-December 2017)
• Thailand, Japan (November 2019)
• Mongolia (August-Sept. 2023)
• Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore (September 2024)¹⁰

All of Francis’s trips to Asia are significant because they encouraged the faith of Catholics living in an overwhelmingly non-Catholic region of the world. His trip to Mongolia was particularly meaningful because the country has only around 1,500 Catholics and eight parishes, dating back only to 1990, when it became a multi-party democracy.¹¹ In addition, around two dozen Catholics from China traveled to Mongolia to greet the pope, as did Archbishop Steven Chow, of Hong Kong.¹²

In words that one reporter viewed as an attempt to ease the fears of Chinese leaders, Francis said, “…[G]overnments and secular institutions have nothing to fear from the Church’s work of evangelization, for she has no political agenda to advance, but is sustained by the quiet power of God’s grace and a message of mercy and truth, which is meant to promote the good of all.”¹³

Francis’s love for the people of Asia, including China, is also evident in the gesture of his travels because he undertook these trips despite declining health that limited his ability to travel. His style of ministry has always been that of being close to the people, and for this reason that many Chinese Catholics felt close to him (though not all, due to the aforementioned controversies). On the occasion of his death, Chinese Catholics sent messages to the Rome-Based Catholic news outlet AsiaNews such as, “The Pope had the Chinese Church in his heart, so he had me in his heart.” “The Pope who loved Our Lady of Sheshan, who loved the Chinese!” and “Francis loved us. I have always felt my life connected to his.”¹⁴

In thinking about Francis’s legacy, I find it most helpful to look to the example of fraternal, Christian charity offered by Joseph Cardinal Zen, Archbishop emeritus of Hong Kong. Long admired as the “conscience of Hong Kong” for his leadership in support of democracy and human rights, Cardinal Zen was the most prominent and perhaps the fiercest opponent of Pope Francis’s agreement with Chinese authorities. Yet even while expressing his opposition, dismay, and heartbreak over the pope’s decisions, Zen maintained a relationship of Christian love and brotherhood.

After his unsuccessful attempt to personally dissuade the pope from entering into the agreement with Chinese authorities in 2018, and despite hardships related to his arrest for activities in support of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, Zen still returned to Rome and met with Francis following the death of Pope Benedict in January 2023.¹⁵ Last week, now at age 92 and having previously said he would no longer make long international trips, Zen traveled to Rome for Francis’s funeral, where on April 30 he shared with a gathering of fellow cardinals some of his fond memories of interacting with Pope Francis.¹⁶ In his remarks Zen recalled, “At the Asian Youth Day, concelebrating with the Asian bishops, [Francis] spoke on the theme of ‘dialogue,’ offering two rules: fidelity to one’s own identity, and listening to others with the heart.”

As Catholics celebrate the newly elected Pope Leo XIV (Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, the first pope from the United States), a pope who, like Francis, sees himself first and foremost as a missionary, and who inherits great challenges throughout the world, including China, we pray for the grace to follow these two rules: fidelity to our identity as those who belong to Christ, and the ability to listen to others “with the heart.”

1. “Holy See and China extend Provisional Agreement on appointment of bishops,” Vatican News, October 22, 2024. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2024-10/holy-see-china-provisional-agreement-appointment-bishops-extend.html. Accessed May 7, 2025.
2. Pope Francis, “Message of Pope Francis to the Catholics of China and to the Universal Church, 26.09.2018,” Holy See Press Office, September 26, 2018. https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2018/09/26/180926b.html . Accessed May 7, 2025.
3. Ibid., 1.
4. Ibid., 2.
5. Ibid., 3.
6. Ibid., 2.
7. Ibid., 4.
8. Isabella Piro, “Pope Francis offers message of hope for the Chinese people,” Vatican News, August 9, 2024. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2024-08/pope-francis-offers-message-of-hope-for-the-chinese-people.html. Accessed May 7, 2025.
9. Tina Dennelly, “Pope sends telegram to China as plane flies over Chinese airspace,” Catholic News Agency, Aug 31, 2023. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255247/pope-sends-telegram-to-china-as-plane-flies-over-chinese-airspace . Accessed May 7, 2025; Bill Chappell, “In A Shift, China Allows Pope Francis to Use Its Airspace for Asia Trip,” NPR, August 13, 2014. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/08/13/340058031/in-a-shift-china-allows-pope-francis-to-use-its-airspace-for-asia-trip. Accessed May 7, 2025.
10. Emma Bubola, “Pope, 87, Embarks on ‘Physical Test’ in Grueling Asia Tour,” New York Times, Sept. 2, 2024. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/02/world/asia/pope-francis-asia-trip.html
11. Linda Bordoni, “Pope arrives in Mongolia to visit ‘people of a great culture’,” Vatican News, September 1, 2023. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-09/pope-arrival-mongolia-apostolic-visit.html. Accessed May 7, 2025.
12. Philip Pullella, “Pope, in Mongolia, sends apparent message to China on Catholic aims,” Reuters, https://www.reuters.com/world/pope-mongolia-laments-earth-devastated-by-countless-conflicts-2023-09-02/. Accessed May 7, 2025.
13. Ibid.
14. “‘Francis Had China in His Heart, and So Me as Well’,” AsiaNews, April 24, 2025. https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Francis-had-China-in-his-heart,-and-so-me-as-well’-62959.html. Accessed May 7, 2025.
15. Gerard O’Connell, “Pope Francis meets with Hong Kong’s Cardinal Zen the day after Benedict XVI’s funeral,” America, January 06, 2023. https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2023/01/06/pope-francis-cardinal-zen-meeting-244478. Accessed May 7, 2025.
16. “Cardinal Zen: Reform needed ‘because we are sinners’,” The Pillar, May 4, 2025. https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/cardinal-zen-reform-needed-because. Accessed May 7, 2025.

John A. Lindblom

John Lindblom is Assistant Professor of the Practice at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame. He received his PhD in World Religions World Church at the University of Notre Dame, and MA in China Studies at the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of …View Full Bio

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