Earlier this year, as part of the effort to normalize relations between the Vatican and China, the [*New York Times*](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/29/world/asia/china-catholics-vatican.html) reported that the Vatican asked one of its bishops to step down to make way for a state-approved individual. This individual had been previously excommunicated from the Church, perhaps simply for acting as a bishop without papal approval (per [Canon 1382](http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0017/_P52.HTM)) . It seemed strange to me that someone could go straight from being excommunicated to being a bishop, so I looked up the qualifications for bishops, and found [Canon 378](http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0017/_P1C.HTM) , which says that suitable candidates "must": > 1° be outstanding in strong faith, good morals, piety, zeal for souls, wisdom, prudence and human virtues, and possess those other gifts which equip him to fulfil the office in question; > > 2° be held in good esteem; > > 3° be at least 35 years old; > > 4° be a priest ordained for at least five years; > > 5° hold a doctorate or at least a licentiate in sacred Scripture, theology or canon law... On the surface, numbers 1, 2, and 4 seem to be a bit tricky to apply to an excommunicated Catholic, except perhaps in the case of #4, if we're allowed to count years of service as a priest prior to excommunication. However, Canon 378 goes on to say, in §2: > The definitive judgement on the suitability of the person to be promoted rests with the Apostolic See. My question, then, is – **does the pope have the ability to disregard any or all of the requirements of Canon 378 with respect to the qualifications of bishops, in order to appoint someone of his choice?** That is, should §2 be read as saying that the pope may waive the age requirement, or the years of service requirement, at his own discretion? Or does his "definitive judgement" apply only to the more subjective requirements, like qualifications #1 and #2? I realize too that there are some circumstances in which the Pope can simply "violate" Canon Law, since he has the authority to amend it anyway, but I don't know if this is such an area.

I understand there are state-sanctioned churches in China, but that implies that Bibles in China are edited by the CCP. Would an Anglican Bible be legal, or at least easy, to bring into China?

Listening to The World Over Live from April 8th 2021, Raymond Arroyo said that Xi Jianping was adding the "Ten Commandments of Xi" into the Bible. That might have been hyperbole, but does anyone know what kinds of modifications that the Chinese Catholic Church has modified the Bible? Do Chinese Catholics have access to vatican.va to see the Chinese Bible posted on their [resource library](http://www.vatican.va/chinese/bibbia.htm) ?

State-sanctioned Protestant Christianity in China — the Three-Self Patriotic Movement — is a bit of a mystery to me. I'm wondering to what extent the Communist Party censors the Christianity taught therein. This is a difficult question for this site (due to the lack of an accepted "orthodoxy"), so I'm trying to get at that by looking at objections raised by the "other Christians" in China. A 2017 article from The Gospel Coalition states: > Yes, Christianity in China is legal, and yes, churches can meet publicly under the TSPM banner. But this comes with consequences. The TSPM reserves the right to censor and control their churches to the extent they deem necessary and appropriate. > Granted, things used to be much worse than they are in 2017. In days past, certain biblical books were forbidden as texts of exposition (mainly end-time ones like Daniel and Revelation), evangelism wasn’t allowed, the gospel couldn’t be boldly proclaimed, and so on. Apparently the teaching isn't so restricted now, although the idea that "real Christians" in China are underground is still widely circulated among expatriate Chinese Christians, and the house church movement there is still going strong. Are there specific doctrinal issues that have been raised in objection to TSPM that fuel the ongoing house church movement? I realize that everything in China is ambiguous and the answer probably varies by region, city, and individual churches, but I'm hoping that specific evidence can be adduced from the testimony of Christian leaders who have objected to TSPM teachings. Note: this was a difficult question for me to figure out how to ask on this site, but I think it's an important topic that is oddly missing from C.SE as far as I have been able to find. (I'm hereby rescuing the tag [tag:china], but also I kind of think the tag [tag:three-self-patriotic-movement] deserves to exist...) If others have ideas about how this can be edited to better fit the format of this site, please do help.

What are the receptions and reputations of Olivet Assembly in these countries? - US - South Korea - China (Is it also called Young Disciples of Jesus (耶稣青年会)?) From limited search results, it looks like it was founded in South Korea. There are also some articles about it on American and Chinese websites, with different attitudes. Is it legal and well accepted by the governments or societies in the three countries? Thanks.

Some underground church in mainland China said that they are a branch of a Christian denomination called "福音派", which also exists in US and other places in the world. But they were not able to name it in English, except that one member mentioned the word of "assembly", despite not being able to confirm whether it is "Assembly of God". By searching on the censored Internet (the one only available in China), "福音派" seems to be a translation of "evangelical", while "派" means denomination. If I am correct, "evangelical" isn't just a denomination, but a group of conservative denominations, at least in US. Also, I am not sure if there is any mainline denomination in mainland China. It seems to make sense to think of the church as evangelical, since it constantly gives out a conservative feeling, both biblical and political. (The preacher keeps saying that gays are promiscuous and will go to hell, by citing the bible, and claims that the American churches accepting the LGBTQ movement betray the bible. He also keeps requesting every one to keep the church's location a secret, while denying their religious freedom having been infringed at all, and furthermore feeling grateful to the government for not having found it out and/or not having shut it down.) Is there a way to find out which denomination the church (or a church calling themselves "福音派") belongs to? Is there more than one evangelical denominations whose names include "assembly"? Does "福音派" in China mostly likely refer to one particular denomination?

What are present conditions like for professing Christians in Hong Kong, both as private citizens and as gathered fellowships, in view of the political changes since 'comprehensive jurisdiction' was enforced in 2014 ?

I live in China, and there is a kind of person called Xianpo here. The Xianpo can talk to the dead soul, and the soul can tell the Xainpo what he saw. One day, I told the Xianpo that I met a woman, so the Xianpo said to me the following things: The Xianpo said: - She has neither promised nor refused to fall in love with me now. - She is my classmate. - She is a little shorter than me. - She is a outsider. - She has a good figure, an oval face, and her face is white and beautiful. - I miss her so I can't sleep at night. - She has long hair. I met this woman recently. The Xianpo hasn't seen her, but she can describe her figure and appearance very accurately. The Xianpo also said that some people have mental disorders because their souls have entered hell and married female souls. How does Christianity view such Xianpo? What is the biblical basis of this phenomenon? My respond： 1. Even if all Jesus encountered were evil souls, it cannot be said that all those with this ability are evil souls. It is unreasonable to say that others are evil just because of this ability. 2. I live in a place where I don't know what Jesus is, and I am more curious about Jesus.

The [Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_names_for_the_God_of_Abrahamic_religions) article on 'Chinese names for the God of Abrahamic religions' claims that: > Protestants originally rendered [the Tetragrammaton] as Yéhuǒhuá (爺火華, literally "(old) Gentleman of Fiery Magnificence," cf. English "Jehovah"). I would love to know if this were true, because it sounds quite strange and funny at the same time. However, there are no specific citations for this claim, and I can't find from basic googling any English language information backing up this claim. (I don't speak a word of Chinese, so it's possible there's ample evidence on the Sinophone internet that I haven't seen) Is this actually true?

In his book *The Souls of China*, Ian Johnson writes about a type of religious persecution that was inflicted on some groups in China during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76): > Across the country, Buddhist, Daoist, and Catholic clergy who had taken vows of chastity were forced to marry. ([page 26](https://books.google.com/books?id=E9dLDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA26)) Sadly, Johnson doesn't provide any additional information about this, and a quick Google search didn't give me any clues either. This situation raises a number of related questions. - First of all, do we know approximately how many cases of this type of persecution were inflicted on Catholics? - Second, how did the government put the "marriage" into effect? Who officiated, and was it done in a church? - Third, did the government actually attempt to enforce this "marriage"? Did it require that the "married" people live together? Did it somehow ensure that vows of chastity were broken? - Fourth, would such involuntary "marriages," even if they were performed in accordance with government laws, considered invalid by the Church? I assume so! Put simply, to what extent (both quantitatively and qualitatively) did the Chinese government force Catholic clergy to "marry" during the Cultural Revolution?

This Catholic article explains and defends the usage of the word, "Father," in reference to priests. Now, in the Chinese language, people have a tendency to use the same familial words for society at large. A child may call an unrelated man, "uncle," or an unrelated younger girl, "little sister". Will this be in conflict with the Catholic concept of "Father" of the church? Or do the Chinese Catholics use a distinct honorific term just for the priest?

Has any pope ever visited Macau? I can't seem to find any information on it. If a pope hasn't visited Macau before, why not? The [Catholic Diocese of Macau](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Catholic_Diocese_of_Macau) is directly administered by the Holy See so it would make sense to at least show once.