abstract:The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (), abbreviated CPA, CPCA, or CCPA, is an association of people, established in 1957 by the People's Republic of China's Religious Affairs Bureau to exercise state supervision over mainland China's Catholics.The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association celebrates 50 years at a less than ideal moment In his encyclical Ad Apostolorum Principis of 29 July 1958, Pope Pius XII deplored the attitude and activities of the Association and declared the bishops who participated in consecrating new bishops selected by the Association to be excommunicated.
Bishop John Fang Xingyao, chairman of the state-sanctioned ChineseCatholicPatrioticAssociation, hopes the new Pope can "turn over a new leaf" in relations, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reports.