Candace Owens: ‘Our Church is not free’ under Vatican-China deal

(LifeSiteNews) — Candace Owens has called out the Vatican’s secret deal with China for the appointment of bishops due to the country’s subsequent worsening oppression of Catholics.

“Our church is not free. In 2018 the Vatican entered a secretive deal with the Chinese Communist party. The idea was to make things better for the Chinese Christians that the CCP oppresses. But since then, it’s only gotten worse,” said Owens during a highlight of the work of the Vulnerable People Project (VPP) on her show.

Candace Owens calls out Pope Leo XIV over the Vatican-China deal.

“If you’re a catholic, you should know this: our church is NOT FREE” pic.twitter.com/iHITUfTOgg

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“Priests are disappearing, bishops have been forced to submit to an officially atheistic government. And worst of all, Beijing is appointing its own loyalist bishops, ignoring the pope’s directions,” she continued.

“This dark and secret deal doesn’t just compromise Catholics in China. It binds and silences the whole Church. Even Pope Leo himself has nervously refused to comment on it when asked on camera,” she noted.

She highlighted a 20-minute documentary on the subject, “Inside the Vatican’s Secret Deal with China,” by VPP founder Jason Jones, hosted on her website. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p7kUeNO9Qw

“Pope Leo inherited this deal but Pope Leo can end it. And he can make sure it’s never renewed,” said Owens, echoing the plea of Jones.

In a previous interview with John-Henry Westen, Jones explained that one of this year’s major goals for the VPP “was to encourage the Vatican not to renew its secret deal with China.”

“I think that would be the biggest blow to tyranny in the world not to renew that deal,” he said.

“We don’t know what the terms of the deal are. But it’s been pretty clear that one of the terms of the deal is that the Church’s prophetic witness against this atheistic, anti-Christ regime, the CCP, has been silenced.”

“We know what this regime is. It calls religion a ‘virus.’ It has three million Uyghurs in concentration camps. It’s been rounding up Falun-Gong practitioners and harvesting their organs. It’s disappeared at least 15 Catholic bishops and countless, tens of thousands of Catholic laypeople.”

“With its right hand, the CCP disappears bishops, and with its left hand it’s ordaining bishops,” continued Jones. “This deal is an abomination, and it must not be renewed.”

Since the approval of the secret Vatican-China deal, bishops, priests, seminarians, and laity have been arrested, tortured, and imprisoned for not signing up to the Chinese Communist Party-run state church organization, with Chinese authorities reportedly having added extra pressure onto faithful Catholics by saying that Pope Francis supported the state “church.”

The deal has remained in place well over a year into the pontificate of Leo. Earlier this year, the pope said he “can’t comment” on Jimmy Lai, the 78-year-old Catholic founder of a pro-democracy newspaper being persecuted by the CCP. Leo’s deliberate silence was attributed by some commentators to the Vatican-China deal.