Church leaders in China in collaboration with the State will embark on a re-education of their members in communist party thinking in the run-up to the centenary of the CCP’s founding in July.

That’s according to a report by Fr. Bernardo Cervellera, head of the AsiaNews press agency and a missionary with the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) who previously lived in Beijing where he taught History of Western Civilisation at Peking University (Beida).

On July 23rd, the Church will hold a symposium “in memory of the centenary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party” and will deepen their understanding of “the moving events during the period of the Long March”, which laid the foundations for the definitive victory of Mao Zedong over Chiang Kai Shek.

The symposium and the study of the Long March are just some of the events that will characterize the program of ecclesial commitments drawn up by the Council of Bishops and the PA for this year.

There will also be “formation courses in collaboration with the Central Institute of Socialism”;  preparatory courses for the national gathering of the “Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference” (held in March);  the “construction of the Patriotic Association”, and much more.