A bipartisan pair of senators wrote a letter to Pope Francis urging him to confront the Chinese Communist Party on its treatment of Uighur Muslims.
“As the leader of the world’s largest institution of faith, we respectfully request that Your Holiness do all that you can to protect the most basic human rights for all people, including Uyghurs in Xinjiang,” GOP Sen. Todd Young of Indiana and Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia wrote.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a similar request last month on behalf of the Trump administration. At the time, the Vatican denied Pompeo’s request to meet, citing concerns of giving the appearance of political bias so close to the U.S. election.
The pope was also reportedly concerned with Pompeo’s recent statement regarding the Roman Catholic Church’s renewed relationship with China and a 2018 agreement meant to welcome Chinese Catholics by legitimizing the Beijing-mandated Chinese Catholic Church.
“Countries must sometimes make compromises to advance good ends,” Pompeo said. “The Church is in a different position. Earthly considerations shouldn’t discourage principled stances based on eternal truths.” He added: “Pope John Paul II bore witness to his flock’s suffering and challenged tyranny. By doing so, he demonstrated how the Holy See can move our world in a more humane direction.”
At issue is an agreement between the Vatican and China that allows Chinese officials to appoint bishops in the country. Should the agreement be renewed, the Holy See runs the risk of sanctions being imposed by the United States. In June, President Trump signed the Uighur Human Rights Policy Act into law, which makes persons found responsible for the oppression of Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups targets for sanctions from the U.S.
As many as 2 million Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities have been moved into reeducation and detention camps in China. There, Uighurs are allegedly put through rigorous “deradicalization” programs and are mocked and tortured by Chinese guards. Documents from the Chinese Communist Party also show that the party has conducted mass forced sterilization of Uighur women, forced abortions, and mandatory birth control measures to reduce the Uighur population.
Though China acknowledged a nearly one-third drop in birth rates in Xinjiang between 2017 and 2018, Beijing has denied reports of genocide and forced sterilization, according to CNN. Beijing further claims that the “reeducation camps” are voluntary and that they provide vocational training to the Uighur Muslims.
“As the international community seeks to eradicate slavery and forced labor, in Xinjiang these practices are being used as tools for social control and economic ‘progress,’” Young and Kaine wrote. “This systematic pattern of injustice and abuse has all occurred under the legal umbrella of laws that associate practices of faith and culture with extremism and terrorism. In short, the CCP is waging a war against the very ideas of expression, of culture, and of religious belief.”
“Today, the world is witnessing perhaps our young century’s most devastating human rights disaster. We encourage Your Holiness to add your voice, with all its accompanying power and legitimacy, to those that have already called for change and justice in Xinjiang,” they wrote.
Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, who coordinates a papal commission on Church reform, told the Repubblica that the U.S. “must not interfere in our relations with China.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to Sens. Kaine and Young for comment.
