China maintains persecution of the Church, banning the CathAssist app that translated the Pope’s General Audiences and Angelus into Chinese.
Newsroom (07/09/2022 9:30 PM Gaudium Press) The persecution of Chinese Catholics does not stop. Now the Communist authorities are eliminating from cyberspace the “Little Helper of the Catholic Church,” the most famous and most used application by the Catholic faithful throughout China. They simply have not renewed the permission to remain online.
The fact was announced on the 23rd, when the App’s development team announced the suspension.
Among other functions, CathAssist not only translated the Pope’s general audiences and the Angelus into Chinese, but also offered the possibility to follow the Mass online, brought the Gospel of the day, and offered commentaries on Scripture.
Prohibitions of the communist dictatorship
The measure is a consequence of the draconian regulations that went into effect on March 1, which prohibit “online proselytizing, organizing religious education courses over the Internet, and publishing sermons or content related to religion.” Now, any live, or recorded, broadcast of masses requires specific permission from the government.
But there is more.
Under these new regulations, the Gospel cannot be sold online, and words like Jesus, Amen, or Christian cannot be used on Chinese social media, including WeChat.
In statements about the non-renewal of the license, the developers explained that the government required such a reduction of content that made it irrelevant. Therefore, it is likely that the communist authorities asked them not to broadcast masses online or publish papal speeches.
In this regard, a leading member of the Chinese Communist Party Politburo, Wang Yang, told a group of Catholics who belong to the Chinese Patriotic Association that they “should resolutely adhere to the principle of independence (from the Vatican), resist infiltration, and safeguard China’s sovereignty, security, and development interests.”
The number of the faithful who do not understand how the secret agreement between China and the Vatican will be renewed for a second time next October is growing under these conditions.
With information from Tempi.
