Vatican-China Agreement Is Up for Renewal Vatican-China Agreement Is Up for Renewal The Chinese government is stepping up aggression against religion; is the 2018 Vatican-China deal still working? By Christina Deardurff A number of Christian churches in Lu’an were left without crosses (photo from the BITTER WINTER website). Top, the buildings with crosses; second row, after the crosses were removed. Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli The Vatican’s interim 2-year agreement with the Communist Chinese government, signed September 22, 2018, is set to expire in September of this year, and it remains unclear whether the Vatican will — and perhaps more importantly, should—renew the deal for another year, or even two.