(Henan — December 8, 2025) In a century-old Catholic church in central China, an otherwise ordinary religious moment, a minor participating in liturgy and playing the piano, resulted in severe punishment from local official religious bodies. The incident again highlights Beijing’s increasingly hardline method of intervention in religious affairs. It shows that even within the Catholic Church, it is difficult to escape the red lines set by the political structure of the state.
On November 30, the Hubin Road Catholic Church (湖滨路天主教堂) in Weidu District, Xuchang City, Henan Province, allowed a minor to enter the church and play the piano during a worship service. Two days later, the local Catholic Church Affairs Committee and the Catholic Patriotic Association, two bodies tightly controlled by the government, ordered the church to suspend services for rectification immediately and to write out corrective measures. Though not explicitly stated, the demand was apparent: minors are not allowed inside churches.
This is not a new requirement but a continuation of repeatedly issued directives in Henan over the past several years. As early as 2018, the province’s Catholic “Two Associations” issued a notice reiterating that “minors must not be brought to church,” citing the Regulations on Religious Affairs and the policy of “separating religion and education” as the basis. The notice banned all forms of religious education activities, including winter and summer camps and any youth-oriented training courses. Even ordinary accompaniment of children with adults to Sunday Mass was discouraged, with parents instructed to leave their children in someone else’s care during services.
Observers note that these bans violate citizens’ rights to religious beliefs guaranteed by China’s Constitution, and, instead of protecting religious freedom, administrative orders have been used to expand state interference in religious practice, which in reality deprived minors of their right to access, understand, and freely choose religious beliefs. For Catholics, what is especially infuriating is that the punishments come from nominally administrative organizations within the church, but these organizations have long been seen as extensions of the government rather than representatives of the faithful.
The Hubin Road Catholic Church (湖滨路天主教堂) predates most administrative institutions. Built in 1909 by the Parma Foreign Mission Society of Italy, it survived war, political campaigns, and waves of demolition before being renovated and reopened in 2003. For many years it has been a spiritual home for local Catholics. Yet now, a child’s piano notes have set off administrative punishment, revealing the fragility of religious spaces in a highly politicized environment.
For many observers, the incident reflects the overall trajectory of China’s religious policy, which is not the protection of religious freedom but the absorption of religious spaces into an increasingly rigid political management structure, even at the cost of eroding fundamental rights of believers. For the Catholic community in Xuchang, the church doors may still be standing, but for the next generation, the freedom to step through them is rapidly shrinking.
Reported by Special Correspondent Gao Zhensai for China Aid
