Pope Francis Dies, Chinese Catholics Mourn—The Red War Dead of Nanjing

Only two lines on the website of the Chinese Catholic Church about the Pope’s death. Instead, they celebrated the 76th anniversary of the Communist victory in Nanjing.

By He Yuyan

April 29, 2025

Catholics visiting the Yihe Road Community Generals’ Hall in Nanjing on April 23.

Those who believed that with the Vatican-China deal of 2018, the Patriotic Catholic Church, now recognized by the Vatican, became a local branch of Roman Catholicism like all others throughout the world, experienced a sad disillusionment with the death of Pope Francis.

All Catholic dioceses and national organizations worldwide mourned the deceased Pope.

His death and funeral were the main news and the opportunity for countless comments.

Not in China. The official website of the Patriotic Catholic Church mentioned Pope Francis’s death at the bottom of its news list and devoted exactly two lines to it, with no mention on the website’s welcome page.

The two lines devoted to Pope Francis’ death on the Patriotic Catholic Church’s website.

On the contrary, much more emphasis was given to celebrating the 76th anniversary of the Communist victory of April 23, 1949, when the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) captured Nanjing, the capital of the Nationalist government (KMT) during the Chinese Civil War, and to mourning the red soldiers who died there.

Pope Francis died on April 21, and we learn that on April 23, Roman Catholics from various areas gathered at the Yihe Road Community Generals’ Hall in Nanjing to pay respect to the revolutionary war dead and celebrate the decisive CCP victory. While Catholics worldwide honored the deceased Pope, he was not even mentioned at the Nanjing gathering.

Source: bitterwinter.org