Barefoot Lawyer Reports

The Chinese Communist Party has quietly replaced a detained bishop—and the Vatican seems powerless to stop them. Chen Guangcheng unpacks what we know about the Vatican’s agreement with the CCP and how the Party has consistently ignored it while eroding the rights of Chinese Catholics. With Pope Leo XIV newly elected, many are hoping for a change in course. Will he stand up to the CCP’s growing inf...

In this episode, Chris Mee highlights how Bishop Guo, under intense pressure from the Chinese government to conform to state religious control, gave up his public role in defense of his priests’ spiritual integrity. His story — marked by humility, sacrifice, and quiet resistance — is a stark example of the suffering faced by clergy under China's authoritarian religious policies.

In this episode of The Barefoot Lawyer Reports, Chen Guangcheng discusses the growing unrest and protests occurring across China—why they’re happening, what they mean for China, and how they could impact the rest of the world. These uprisings, combined with pressure from U.S. tariffs, may present a “historic opportunity” to loosen the grip the CCP has long held on the Chinese people.

In this powerful interview, Professor William Saunders (Director of the Center for Human Rights at Catholic University) sits down with Christopher Mee, a first-year law student and former intern at the Hudson Institute. Together, they uncover chilling stories from the new Hudson Institute report, “10 Persecuted Catholic Bishops in China” by Nina Shea.

Chen Guangcheng discusses China’s deepening demographic crisis. From abandoned rural villages to empty city blocks, Guangcheng breaks down how the CCP's past and present population policies have backfired—triggering a potential collapse in China's workforce and long-term economic stability. What is the CCP's plan to address this, and will it affect other countries?

In part two of this Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China interview, Dr. William Saunders interviews Peter Tozzi, the first place winner of the Center for Human Rights’s annual essay contest, on his essay, “The CCP’s Genocide Against the Uyghurs: Why Americans Should Care”.

In part one of this Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China interview, Dr. William Saunders interviews Peter Tozzi, the first place winner of the Center for Human Rights’s annual essay contest, on his essay, “The CCP’s Genocide Against the Uyghurs: Why Americans Should Care”.

In this Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China interview, Dr. William Saunders interviews Sarah Thomas, the second place winner of the Center for Human Rights’s annual essay contest, on her essay, “The Future of China: Religious Freedom and Ecological Civilization”.

In part two of this Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China interview, Dr. William Saunders interviews Peter James, the second place winner of the Center for Human Rights’s annual essay contest, on his essay, “China’s Death Camps”

In part one of this Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China interview, Dr. William Saunders interviews Peter James, the second place winner of the Center for Human Rights’s annual essay contest, on his essay, “China’s Death Camps”.

In part one of this episode of the Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China, Dr. Sen Nieh, Fellow at Catholic University's Center for Human Rights, gives an overview of forced organ harvesting in Communist China, an atrocity frequently committed against practitioners of Falun Gong.

In part two of this Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China interview, Dr. William Saunders interviews Jonathan Froelich, the third place winner of the Center for Human Rights’s annual essay contest, on his essay, “A Practical Plan for Chinese Human Rights Intervention by the United States”. You can read the essay here: https://humanrights.catholic.edu/this-may-sting-a-bit-a-practical-plan-for-chinese-hu...

In part one of this Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China interview, Dr. William Saunders interviews Jonathan Froelich, the third place winner of the Center for Human Rights’s annual essay contest, on his essay, “A Practical Plan for Chinese Human Rights Intervention by the United States”. You can read the essay here: https://humanrights.catholic.edu/this-may-sting-a-bit-a-practical-plan-for-chinese-hu...

On September 19, 2024, Chinese human rights activist Yaxue Cao showed her film, The Defenders: 20 Years of Human Rights Lawyers in China, at The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law. Sponsoring the event was The Center for Human Rights, The Center for Religious Liberty, and The Center for Law and the Human Person. Her film features several prominent human rights lawyers, includi...

On September 19, 2024, Chinese human rights activist Yaxue Cao showed her film, The Defenders: 20 Years of Human Rights Lawyers in China, at The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law. Sponsoring the event was The Center for Human Rights, The Center for Religious Liberty, and The Center for Law and the Human Person. Her film features several prominent human rights lawyers, includi...

In part one of this Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China interview, Dr. William Saunders interviews Father Ambrose Ekeroku, the third place winner of the Center for Human Rights’s annual essay contest, on his essay, “Technology Censorship of Religious Groups in China”. You can read the essay here: https://humanrights.catholic.edu/human-rights-essay-contest/

In part four of the Barefoot Lawyer Reports on the CCP's history of human rights abuses in modern China, Chen Guangcheng discusses Communist China's economic situation in the 1990s, as well as its decades-long infiltration of Hong Kong. Guangcheng's Public discourse article: https://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2024/07/95522/

In part three of our series covering China's modern human rights atrocities, Chen Guangcheng discusses the origins of Falun Gong, as well as the beginning of the Communist Party's persecution against the spiritual movement.

Liberty Sculpture Park, which is famous for the anti-CCP and pro-democracy sculptures of Chinese artist Chen Weiming, recently suffered a fire that destroyed equipment and art pieces that were in progress. In this podcast, Chen Guangcheng talks about why it is suspected that the Communist Party is behind this - and prior - attacks. Also, Chen Weiming offers his own remarks. We encourage you to lis...

In part two of this series on post-Tiananmen Square China, Chen Guangcheng talks about resistance to the Communist Party's regime following Tiananmen Square, which came in the form of rival parties and media like Radio Free Asia.

Today marks the seventh anniversary of the disappearance of Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who helped defend Chen Guangcheng when he was imprisoned by the Communist Party. Gao is honored by a sculpture designed by Chen Weiming, a human rights activist and artist who has also been interviewed on our podcast, which you can find in this episode's description. The sculpture hangs in the...

In the third part of this Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China interview, Father Robert Sirico, interviewed by Dr. William Saunders, talks about how activist Jimmy Lai’s Catholic faith has helped him persevere persecution and imprisonment by the Chinese Communist Party.

In part one of this series on post-Tiananmen Square China, Chen Guangcheng details the effect the Tiananmen Square massacre had on human rights, especially human rights activists, in China.

In the second part of this Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China interview, Father Robert Sirico recounts his experience traveling to Hong Kong to witness activist Jimmy Lai’s trial in person.

In the first part of this Barefoot Lawyer Reports on China interview, Father Robert Sirico talks about the history of his friendship with imprisoned Hong Kong activist Jimmy Lai.