A Catholic cardinal and former Bishop of Hong Kong has warned that the deal struck between the Vatican and the Chinese government is a step towards the 'annihilation' of the Church in China.

The agreement was aimed at relieving pressure on the 'unofficial' Church in exchange for a degree of state control over the appointment of bishops. Supporters argue that while bishops appointed illegally by the state have now had their excommunications lifted, the Vatican will have the final say in all future episcopal appointments.

In an opinion piece for the New York Times, Cardinal Joseph Zen, a long-time opponent of compromise with the Chinese government, said Pope Francis 'doesn't seem to understand the Communists' because of his experience in South America where communists were defenders of the poor.

'Francis may have natural sympathy for Communists because for him, they are the persecuted. He doesn't know them as the persecutors they become once in power, like the Communists in China,' he said.

Zen wrote of his experience of the Church during the Cutural Revolution, which was 'terrible beyond imagination'. 'We forget these things too easily. We also forget that you can never have a truly good agreement with a totalitarian regime,' he said.

He outlined policy under previous Vatican diplomats, singling out what he said was an 'incredible error' in the translation of a document from Pope Benedict XVI in 2007 which appeared to encourage Chinese Catholics to join the official state-controlled Church; it was 'too important not to have been deliberate', he said.

Francis, he said, was 'being encouraged to be optimistic about the Communists in China by cynics around him who know better'.

Zen criticised Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Parolin, saying he 'cares less about the Church than about diplomatic success. His ultimate goal is the restoration of formal relations between the Vatican and Beijing.'

He warned of increasing pressure on the Church in China, claiming priests were discouraging people from coming to mass to avoid arrest. He was scathing about the Vatican's 'final say' on bishops, saying: 'But what good is having the last word when China will have all the words before it? In theory the pope could veto the nomination of any bishop who seems unworthy. But how many times can he do that, really?'

Zen said: 'If I were a cartoonist I would draw the Holy Father on his knees offering the keys of the kingdom of heaven to President Xi Jinping and saying, "Please recognize me as the pope."'

He concluded: 'And yet, to the underground bishops and priests of China, I can only say this: Please don't start a revolution. They take away your churches? You can no longer officiate? Go home, and pray with your family. Till the soil. Wait for better times. Go back to the catacombs. Communism isn't eternal.'