It is about control. They want to control religions because of the possibility that religions can be bigger than Communism in China, and therefore become political competitors. There is no two ways about it, and we cannot change that. It is a reality in that country. So there is no easy solution to it.
On the other hand, the confusion of having two parallel Catholic churches in China is damaging also, which is obvious. I am not sure if any of you have worked with our underground brothers and sisters Catholics in China. Their spirit is very high, which is good and the person of the Cardinal reflects that, but as they are hunted and petsecuted, the Church is unable to reach out to the more than one billion Chinese. Just imagine our Catholic priests missionaries that have to forgo everything about the priesthood, not to celebrate mass, so as to be able to stay in China. China secret police is probably one of the most efficient there is, and if they see any threat and illegality, you can be sure, that’s the end of that person.
We need to offer all this to the Lord and pray that God will lead our Holy Father in wisdom to deal with it.