^* The Communist Party took control of the Catholic Church on the mainland in 1957 with the creation of the Chinese Catholic Association. In 2008 the association had an estimated 7 million members. Peking and the Vatican have not had formal relations since 1951, when the papal nuncio was expelled from the mainland in reprisal for the Holy See’s recognition of the Taiwan government. On the mainland several million Catholics, who accept the authority of the Vatican rather than the Communist association, worship in underground churches. They have at times been subjected to police harassment.