(Wenzhou, China – September 29, 2025) Amid China’s continued tightening of religious policies and strengthening of comprehensive control over ideology, a nun from Wenzhou has been accused of “organizing illegal border crossings” for leading Catholic faithfuls on a pilgrimage to Europe. She has now been detained for over three months. The case highlights how, under Xi Jinping’s leadership, China’s interference in religious affairs has shifted from institutional regulation to overt politicization, with even the most basic practices of faith increasingly criminalized through the country’s criminal law.
Criminalizing Faith-Based Travel
The detainee, Xiang Qiaoyun, 40, is a nun of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, south of Shanghai. She was accused of organizing a group of about 20 Catholics on a pilgrimage to Catholic holy sites in France and Italy in June. Although the pilgrimage obtained Schengen visas through official channels and committed no illegal entry, Beijing labeled the trip an “illegal exit” on the grounds that she did not report it as a religious activity.
Observers note that the absurdity of such charges lies in the fact that lawful overseas travel while holding valid visas is deemed criminal simply because of its religious nature. This logic of “faith as crime” raises concerns that China is systematically reframing religious freedom as a national security issue and is using criminal means to eradicate the independence of religion.
Solitary Detention and Severe Charges
According to the French newspaper La Croix, Nun Xiang denied all charges, insisting she was merely fulfilling her religious duty by helping the faithful undertake a traditional pilgrimage. However, she and the entire group were arrested, with only fourteen later released. Xiang remains held in solitary detention and could face sentences ranging from over seven years to even life imprisonment.
Wenzhou: The Front Line of Religious Repression
The case unfolds in Wenzhou, the front lines of religious repression in China, long known as “China’s Jerusalem,” which remains one of the most active regions for underground Catholic and Protestant communities. The Wenzhou Diocese currently has an estimated 180,000–200,000 Catholics, many of whose clergy refuse to accept government control and reject membership in the government-run “Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association,” making them a prime target for repression.
Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin, though formally appointed by the Vatican, has long been marginalized, detained, and even placed under house arrest for refusing Beijing’s state-controlled “independent and autonomous” church system. His plight reflects the hollowness behind the facade of the easing of China-Vatican relations.
A Broader Pattern of Suppression
In 2018, Beijing and the Holy See signed a controversial agreement on bishop appointments. While China pledged to grant the Vatican partial authority, in reality, underground church members continue to face persecution, and the official church has been subsumed into the CCP’s “patriotic” education framework. Critics argue the deal has worsened conditions for Catholics and has instead become a tool to legitimize control of the Chinese government.
In addition, Protestant groups in Wenzhou have also not been spared from crackdowns. Reliable reports indicate that pastors have been arrested for disseminating the contents of sermons. The pattern suggests that Beijing authorities now treat all unofficial religious groups as potential threats and will not hesitate to deploy the state apparatus for comprehensive suppression.
“Religion in China is being redefined as an enemy of the state,” said one religious individual familiar with the case, speaking anonymously. “Any act of faith outside the control of the CCP risks being branded illegal, hostile, or subversive.”
International Silence and Rising Concern
Although China’s constitution nominally guarantees freedom of religion, in practice, that right has long given way to absolute obedience to the security of the state ideology. Religion has been subsumed into frameworks of “social governance” and “ideological security,” rather than recognized as an independent moral voice outside of authority.
China’s Foreign Ministry has yet to comment on Xiang Qiaoyun’s case, and the Vatican has remained silent. However, as cases of detention occur more frequently, international human rights groups and religious freedom advocates have voiced growing criticism of Beijing’s religious policies. Human Rights Watch recently stated that the Chinese government is “systematically dehumanizing and desacralizing religious practice, fully subsuming it under the logic of state control.”
For Sister Xiang Qiaoyun, the aim was simply to guide a group of faithful along a traditional path of pilgrimage. However, in today’s China, such a road of faith has been redrawn as a road to crime.
Reported by Special Correspondent Gao Zhensai for ChinaAid
Related Coverage:
The Diocese of Wenzhou’s Sanjia Catholic Church was fined by Chinese Communist authorities after Bishop Peter Shao Zhumin presided over a Mass
Wenzhou: Chinese Authorities Use “Illegal Border Crossing” Charges to Suppress Underground Catholic Church and Force Bishop to Submit to Party Control