“Since Xi Jinping was appointed CCP General Secretary/ President in 2013, religious persecution has intensified under a government campaign for the ‘sinicization’ of religion,” a new USCCB fact sheet states. After referring to the 2018 provisional agreement between the Holy See and China, the fact sheet notes that “underground churches are closed and their priests detained, crosses destroyed, Bibles confiscated, and children under 18 forbidden from attending Mass and receiving religious instruction. Surveillance cameras and pictures of President Xi are mounted in many churches.”