Father Franco Mella - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz Catholic News New Zealand Mon, 18 Jul 2022 09:02:47 +0000 en-NZ hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://cathnews.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cropped-cathnewsfavicon-32x32.jpg Father Franco Mella - CathNews New Zealand https://cathnews.co.nz 32 32 70145804 Missionary priest's hunger strike protests Hong Kong activists' detention https://cathnews.co.nz/2022/07/18/missionary-priests-hunger-strike-protests-hong-kong-activists-detention/ Mon, 18 Jul 2022 07:50:56 +0000 https://cathnews.co.nz/?p=149327 An elderly Catholic missionary in Hong Kong has launched a three-day hunger strike outside a high-security prison. He demands the release of politicians and activists incarcerated under the city's Beijing-imposed controversial national security law. Father Franco Mella, 74, a member of the Milan-based Pontifical Institute of Foreign Missions, has vowed to abstain from food as Read more

Missionary priest's hunger strike protests Hong Kong activists' detention... Read more]]> An elderly Catholic missionary in Hong Kong has launched a three-day hunger strike outside a high-security prison. He demands the release of politicians and activists incarcerated under the city's Beijing-imposed controversial national security law.

Father Franco Mella, 74, a member of the Milan-based Pontifical Institute of Foreign Missions, has vowed to abstain from food as he started his protest near the Shek Pik prison on Lantau Island in Hong Kong on 14 July amid sweltering summer heat, Reuters reported.

"The weather is so hot. So, they are suffering inside. And the message (is) we are with you, do not lose hope. Let us continue to fight for everybody's freedom," Mella said.

With temperatures in the mid- to upper 80s Fahrenheit, the task of abstaining from food has become even more challenging for the priest.

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Missionary priest's hunger strike protests Hong Kong activists' detention]]> 149327