In China, the death of Pope Francis went viral on social media. The news was the most searched news in history for more than 17 hours. Over 160 million views for the "emperor of the church," as the Pope is called in Chinese, with his death becoming a trending topic. Posts ranged from the simple and final Pope, to meetings with the powerful of the Earth, to millennial prophecies.
The post between the Pope of the simple and the prophecies
On Weibo, the Tenth Mandarin, the announcement of the death of the Holy See, according to an examination of the graphs, caused a surge in searches with over 160 million views. There are many posts about Jiao Huang ("Emperor of the Church"). Among the efforts and openness to the weakest and the numerous summits with the leaders of the countries of the world, posts that revive Nostradamus and his prophecies to mention the imminent arrival of disasters stand out.
10 million Catholics in China
The figure of the Holy Father is generally treated more as that of a celebrity than as the head of the Church of Rome. About 10.5 million Catholics live in China, and it is estimated that about 6 million are members of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, loyal to the Communist Party.
Global Times on Francis
Before the 2018 Holy See-China provisional agreement on joint ordination, the CPCA ordained bishops under the CCP’s leadership under the scheme of “respectful” coexistence between faith and party. The Global Times, the nationalist tabloid of the People’s Daily, devoted a long article on the second page of its Mandarin edition, acknowledging that during “Francis’s tenure, relations between the Vatican and China have partially improved.”
GT: third most read news
In September 2018, the parties signed the interim agreement on the appointment of bishops in Beijing, which was extended for two years in 2020 and 2022 respectively. In October 2024, the Chinese Foreign Ministry announced a further extension "for another four years." On the Global Times website, the death of Pope Bergoglio is the third most read news.
CCP Daily, news in sixth place
On the Sina platform, the account of the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the CCP, ranks the Pope's death in sixth place among links to major news. It is a long article accompanied by photos. Finally, there is a rather common element: for the term death, the term "qushì" is used instead of "shìshì". Both are very formal, but the second is the one more dedicated to great leaders. (A2 Televizion)
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