The Chinese Communist Party allocates $2 B each year to gain influence over the Vatican’s internal policymaking and to pay for its silence on the CCP’s repression of religious freedom.

There have been no diplomatic ties between the Chinese and the Vatican until the 2018 agreement. The agreement is about bishops' appointments.

There have been no diplomatic ties between the Chinese and the Vatican until the 2018 agreement. The agreement is about bishops' appointments.Guo Wengui, a Chinese dissident, said that the Chinese Communist Party(CCP) makes an annual payment of two billion U.S. dollars to the Vatican, the headquarter of the Roman Catholic Church. The allocation of funds is to keep the latter silent on human rights abuses taking place under the communist regime. He alleged China started to pay the Holy See from 2014.

The Vatican has had no diplomatic relations with China since 1951, but in 2018 Pope Francis stepped up efforts to start ties with Beijing. On September 22, 2018, China and the Vatican signed a historic agreement concerning bishops' appointments in China. Through this agreement, the Chinese government also recognizes the pope as head of China's Catholics. It is said that the deal works to maintain communications and to improve relations between both sides. Moreover, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke described the agreement as not political but pastoral, allowing the faithful to have bishops in association with Rome, but at the same time recognized by Chinese authorities. There is no such annual allocation of two billion U.S. dollars to the Vatican under the agreement.