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. 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.
Pope Benedict XVI referred to the agents of the Association as "persons who are not
ordained, and sometimes not even
baptised", who "control and take decisions concerning important ecclesial questions, including the appointment of
Bishops".