State Administration for Religious Affairs
The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (), abbreviated CPA, CPCA or CCPA, is an organization established in 1957 by the People's Republic of China's Religious Affairs Bureau to supervise 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 people who, though not ordained priests and sometimes not baptized, "control and take decisions concerning important ecclesial questions, including the appointment of bishops." The organization is overseen by the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China following the State Administration for Religious Affairs' absorption into the United Front Work Department in 2018.