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This photo taken on Jan. 15, 2024, shows a Chinese flag fluttering below a cross on a Christian church in Pingtan in China's southeast Fujian province. / Credit: GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Sep 19, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

New regulations from the State Administration for Religious Affairs in China have enacted a ban on several major forms of online evangelization for religious clergy of all religions, including Catholic priests.

The new Code of Conduct for Religious Clergy on the Internet comprises 18 articles. Among stipulations that religious clergy must "love the motherland" and support Chinese leadership of the Communist Party of China and its socialist system, faith leaders are banned from preaching and performing other religious rituals through live broadcasts, short videos, or online meetings. 

Priests may only do so on "websites, applications, forums, etc. legally established by religious groups, religious schools, temples, monasteries, and churches" with approval from the Chinese government. Furthermore, whenever using social media accounts or messaging apps to send out information, religious clergy must provide "certificate of membership as registered religious clergy" to their internet service providers. 

Clergy are banned under the code from both the evangelization and education of minors on the internet, and from organizing educational opportunities, such as seasonal camps for minors on the internet. 

They are also banned from making money online and from raising money to build religious places or for holding religious activities. 

"If a religious clergy violates this standard, the religious affairs department shall order them to make corrections within a time limit," the code of conduct states, adding: "If they refuse to make corrections, the religious affairs department shall … punish them in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and administrative regulations." 

For "serious" offenders, the code recommends religious institutions suspend their teaching activities or revoke their religious status. 

"Religious teachers and officials who carry out online activities through overseas websites and platforms shall abide by this standard," the code states.

Announcement of the new regulations comes after the publication on Thursday of an interview with Pope Leo XIV from July in which he indicated that he may be open to changes to the Vatican's controversial deal with China and that he is in dialogue with persecuted Chinese Catholics as he weighs the future of Vatican policy toward Beijing.

Pope Leo said he is listening to "a significant group of Chinese Catholics who for many years have lived some kind of oppression or difficulty in living their faith freely" as he tries to get "a clearer understanding of how the Church can continue the Church's mission."

"I would say that in the short term, I will continue the policy that the Holy See has followed for some years now … I'm also in ongoing dialogue with a number of people, Chinese, on both sides of some of the issues that are there," he said.

As the first pope to ever have visited mainland China, Leo — who traveled there years before his election — said he draws on his experiences with "government as well as religious leaders and laypeople."

Leo's comments indicate openness to a possible shift from the status quo on China since 2018, when the Holy See signed an agreement with Beijing described as managing the appointment of bishops. The agreement was renewed under Pope Francis three times in the past seven years despite objections from human rights activists and reports of increased persecution of the so-called underground Church in China, which rejects government control.

"It's a very difficult situation. In the long term, I don't pretend to say this is what I will and will not do," Leo said.

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