Replacing images of Xi Jinping with images of Christ in churches
The Chinese government replaced images of Xi Jinping with images of Jesus Christ in the country's churches.
According to reports from the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), at the behest of the Chinese government, the Communist Party has removed images related to Christianity from some churches in the country and replaced them with images of the country's president in order to systematically persecute Christian believers.
USCIRF warned of the difficult situation for religious adherents in the country, noting that the Chinese government is implementing a policy of Sinicization of religions. The commission emphasized that suppressing religious groups has become the Chinese government's main goal in managing religious affairs.
The most important issue that has existed between Beijing and the Vatican in recent years is that the Chinese government wants to appoint priests and bishops itself, not the Vatican. For this reason, Beijing has made every effort to ensure that Chinese churches, especially the Catholic Church, do not have too much dependence on the Vatican organization.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom also wrote in its reports: "Current Chinese government policies include removing crosses from churches and replacing images of Jesus Christ or Mary with images of President Xi. The Chinese government has also required the display of Chinese Communist Party slogans at the entrances of many churches and has forced priests to preach the ruling party's ideology by censoring and changing Christian theological texts."
China is known as the 19th most anti-Christian country in the world, and experts believe that Chinese authorities prefer to keep Christian symbols out of public view as much as possible.
