China’s Puzzling Influence On the Conclave, by Phil Lawler

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture, May 01, 2025

Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org

Today once again I’m asking myself: Why?

Why did the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) choose this week, during the papal interregnum, to announce the “election” of new Catholic bishops without papal approval, in apparent* violation of their secret agreement with the Vatican?

Let’s start with the most obvious explanation. The CCP realizes that the new Pope might not be as accommodating as Pope Francis. So rather than wait, nominate a candidate, and have the new Pope refuse to confirm the choice, they acted now to create a fait accompli. You can imagine the explanation: “Well, we would have asked for papal approval, but there was no Pope to ask.”

But it’s a bit more complicated than that, isn’t it? CCP officials surely know that Cardinal Parolin, the Secretary of State, is among the leading candidates for the papacy. Since he is the chief architect and defender of the secret agreement, it stands to reason that he would continue the same conciliatory policy toward Beijing if he became Pontiff. So you would expect the CCP to welcome that prospect. …

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