A court in Hong Kong has adjourned the trial of outspoken Catholic activist Cardinal Joseph Zen and four co-defendants until October 26. Retired Catholic bishop and Cardinal Joseph Zen and five co-defendants pleaded not guilty at the West Kowloon Magistrates Court to failing to properly register their 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which offered financial, legal Read more
Cardinal Joseph Zen has taken aim at the Vatican for its silence on Hong Kong, the Uyghur concentration camps in Xinjiang and growing religious repression in mainland China. The city’s cardinal emeritus, who has been politically active in protests against any encroaching power by Beijing, used international media to take aim at the Holy See Read more
Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun has denied an apparent accusation by the apostolic administrator of Hong Kong Diocese that he is disobedient toward Pope Francis. Read more
The Vatican is mishandling China and the recent agreement between the Vatican and China is a step toward the “annihilation” of the church in China, says Cardinal Joseph Zen. Zen, who is the former bishop of Hong Kong, says the distinction between the underground Church and the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association has not been eradicated. Read more
Finally, the Vatican has done a deal with China, or rather with the ruling Chinese Communist Party that has been conducting an escalating program of repression against religion. The deal is already drenched in controversy and opposed by many Chinese Catholics and anti-pope conservatives. But the Vatican hopes it is just the first fruit of Read more
Cardinal Zen would do well to take a short course in Catholic history. In what is both false and misleading, Cardinal Zen keeps repeating the claim that the Vatican’s behavior in its relations with Beijing on the appointment of bishops in China is “unprecedented.” It is not and it is false to claim it is Read more
Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kuin, 86, sits down for lunch. Chatting and smiling, he lists the options for main course at a private dining room in Bishop Lei International House, a church-owned hotel founded originally as a school for the De La Salle brothers. It’s perched high in the Mid-Levels of Hong Kong Island, high but Read more
What is happening right now is no way unprecedented in recent Catholic history in China. Moral outrage and high emotion are a potent cocktail. Such is what is reverberating around the world right now about the Vatican’s moves to replace two bishops in China. The events have triggered reports and comments in the Catholic media Read more
Hong Kong Catholics held an all-night prayer vigil to protest a proposed deal between the Vatican and Beijing. More than 200 people gathered to voice their concerns over a deal they say will “sell out” faithful Chinese Catholics. “It’s a precarious situation. There’s a real danger of division,” a priest said. Those attending the vigil Read more
Pope Francis could “sell out” China’s underground Catholic church, according to Emeritus Cardinal Joseph Zen. Hong Kong-based 85 year old Zen, who is the is China’s highest ranking prelate, said China’s communist rulers want “total surrender” from the Church. Pope Francis “is really naïve” and “doesn’t know the Chinese communists,” he said. “The people around Read more