Report: At least 10 underground bishops have been consecrated in China since 2018

August 28, 2026

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CWN Editor's Note: A Chinese bishop said that at least ten bishops have been secretly consecrated in China’s Fujian province since the 2018 Sino-Vatican provisional agreement on episcopal appointments.

Anthony Clark, PhD, professor of Chinese History at Whitworth University, wrote:

During an animated and candid discussion with a Chinese bishop who is unaffiliated with the Patriotic Association (anonymous to protect his well-being), our chat began with the “terrible things happening to Catholics in China, especially in Fujian.” After the 2018 Sino-Vatican agreement was codified between the Holy See and China’s government, Fujian experienced what the bishop has defined as “a state of emergency.”

The faithful of the underground community have grown continually fearful that, as government influence over the bishops increases, “the integrity of the Catholic faith will suffer.” To “assure the survival of China’s Church,” new bishops have been “secretly consecrated.” The number is unknown, but he suggested that “at least ten new bishops” were ordained for the underground community there. This proliferation of surreptitious consecrations, the bishop informed me, represents only Fujian province; he did not discuss other areas of China.

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