The man to whom Pope Francis refused to give an audience

6 Responses to The man to whom Pope Francis refused to give an audience

1. C.L. says:

   12 May, 2022 at 10:48 am

   Hong Kong police arrest Cardinal Joseph Zen over ‘collusion with foreign forces.’

   Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen, 90, was arrested by Hong Kong police on Wednesday on charges of “collusion with foreign forces”, Catholic sources in Rome told The Australian overnight.

   Cardinal Zen was being held in Chai Wan police station close to his church residence, according to a police sergeant at the scene, Reuters reported in the early hours of Thursday, Australian time.

   He was being held with four others who helped run a now-disbanded humanitarian fund for protesters, a legal source said. They were barrister Margaret Ng, 74; activist and pop singer Denise Ho; former lawmaker Cyd Ho; and former academic Hui Po-keung.

   The five were trustees of the “612 Humanitarian Relief Fund” which helped protesters who had been arrested during pro-democracy, anti-China protests in 2019 to help pay their legal and medical fees.

   Cardinal Zen has been a close associate of jailed newspaper proprietor Jimmy Lai, founder of the popular pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper, which printed its final edition in Hong Kong in June last year.

   More than a million copies were printed, with Hong Kong people queuing for hours to buy one. Apple Daily is now published digitally in Taiwan.

   Cardinal Zen has also been a thorn in the side of the Chinese Communist Party and the Vatican for six years over his outspoken opposition to the secretive China-Vatican deal finalised in 2018 and renewed in 2020.

   The extraordinary deal is believed to give the CCP control over the appointment of Catholic bishops, but its terms have never been sighted. It also favours the officially approved Patriotic Association “Catholic Church” over the underground Church that remained loyal to the Vatican for decades, and whose bishops, priests and attendees were frequently arrested, imprisoned and tortured.

   Cardinal Zen’s arrest will put pressure on the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Petro Parolin, the main architect of the secret agreement, and Pope Francis, to break their customary silence about ongoing religious and other human rights abuses in China.

   In October last year, Cardinal Parolin voiced concerns about AUKUS, Australia’s defence collaboration with the US and Britain, especially the agreement to help the Australian Navy acquire a fleet of eight nuclear-powered submarines.

   Cardinal Zen warned against the CCP deal when it was first mooted in 2016. He told the Wall Street Journal: “Pope Francis has no real knowledge of communism experience in Argentina, where military dictators and rich elites did evil while actual or accused communists suffered trying to help the downtrodden.

   “So the Holy Father knew the persecuted communists, not the communist persecutors. He knew the communists killed by the government, not the communist governments who killed thousands and hundreds of thousands of people. In China it was tens of millions.’’

   In 2020, Cardinal Zen travelled to Rome to warn Francis against renewing the deal, but the Cardinal was denied an audience. At the time, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the deal had compromised the Vatican’s moral authority.

   ———–

   Tess Livingstone in The Australian
2. Terry says:

   12 May, 2022 at 3:10 pm

   Francis the Mule: a moral coward to his very core.

   He will not enjoy his exit interview at the pearly gates, nor its outcome.
3. Fat Tony says:

   12 May, 2022 at 4:16 pm

   Terry says:
   12 May, 2022 at 3:10 pm
   Francis the Mule: a moral coward to his very core.

   Accuracy please – it was ” Francis the Talking Mule”
4. NoFixedAddress says:

   12 May, 2022 at 11:13 pm

   Good to know that the Jesuit Talking Mule Papacy is on to those Zen Chinese Catholics.
5. Bruce of Newcastle says:

   13 May, 2022 at 10:40 am

   If you turn away from God he tends to turn away from you. Certainly seems to be happening in China, with swine flu followed by floods followed by Covid. And now it’s looking like another bad harvest in a row.

   Xi really doesn’t like Christians. Well, he seems to be reaping a whirlwind, although you can never link the one with the other. Funny how many disasters China is suffering though.
6. Chris M says:

   13 May, 2022 at 2:08 pm

   Exactly right Bruce. When they start actively persecuting Christians it is downhill shortly thereafter.

   And needless to say this principle applies to any country including Western countries like Canada and fascist states like Viktoria.