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Hong Kong’s Catholics face ‘collapse of religious freedom’Religious freedom is being lost in Hong Kong due to pressure from the Chinese Communist Party, according to a new report from the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation.Released 30 January 2024, the Hostile Takeover: The CCP and Hong Kong’s Religious Communities report highlights “the systematic breaking of promises” made under the so-called “One Country, Two Systems” arrangement that was outlined in the Sino-British Joint Declaration when the UK handed control of Hong Kong to the CCP in 1997.The report also highlights how the Beijing-imposed National Security Law (NSL) is being used...

[Catholic Caucus] Zen threatens boycott of HK cardinal’s Mass if Beijing bishop attendsThe Hong Kong diocese is facing a diplomatic controversy ahead of a Mass celebrating the diocese’s newest cardinal, over the invitation of a bishop close to the Chinese Communist Party and Beijing government. Cardinal Stephen Chow, SJ, of Hong Kong will celebrate on Saturday a Mass of thanksgiving for his elevation to the College of Cardinals. But sources close to the diocese have told The Pillar that preparations for the event are being overshadowed by concerns about whether Bishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing will be allowed to...

Open Letter to Pope Francis from Chinese Faithful: "You are killing us!"Dear Pope Francis,We, the awakening Catholics in the underground and official churches in China, write you this open letter to lament your betraying our Church and destroying our nation.Since 1949 communist takeover, countless martyrs chose to sacrifice everything to remain loyal to the Holy See – till today. Pope Pius XII, Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have shown appreciation, encouragement and comfort to us. They condemned the evil of communism, confirmed illegality of the “Patriotic Association”, and admonished resistance to immoral cooperation with CCP. Pope...

The Sino-Vatican Pact fails again: an appeal from the Catholic Church in ChinaThis has been written by a Chinese Catholic, to whom we have for obvious reasons granted anonymity.The translation of Bishop Shen Bin from the Diocese of Haimen to the nearby diocese of Shanghai on 4th April 2023 marks the failure of the secret Sino-Vatican agreement of 2018. Diocesan priests in Shanghai are mostly reluctant to accept Bishop Shen Bin as the bishop of Shanghai, and it seems difficult for Bishop Shen to execute his governance such as transferring the priests among parishes. The appointment was made, without the...

Leaders From China’s State-Run Catholic Church Brief Hong Kong Clergy on President Xi’s ‘Sinicization’ PlanCritics see this conference, held in mid-November, as a precursor to a further crackdown on religious freedom.ROME — Chinese bishops, priests and theologians from the country’s state-run Church have formally briefed Hong Kong clergy on implementing President XI Jinping’s socialistic vision of religion — a move critics see as a possible precursor to a further crackdown on religious freedom. The conference took place a week before the forced installation Nov. 24 of an underground bishop as an auxiliary of a diocese not recognized by the...

Cardinal Zen’s conviction shows that no one is safe in Hong KongCardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, the 90-year-old retired bishop of Hong Kong, has been convicted of failing to register a humanitarian relief fund and fined 4,000 Hong Kong dollars (about £400) after being punished for supporting pro-democracy demonstrators during the mass protests in Hong Kong. The fine may seem small, but this is Beijing’s way of saying that even a frail and saintly cleric who walks with the aid of a stick is not safe to endorse democracy. No one is.All Beijing has done is decided not to proceed with...

[Catholic Caucus] HELL is in SESSION: Stand with Cardinal ZenIn thinking about what the 90-year-old Chinese Cardinal Joseph Zen is now enduring, I'm reminded of another such hero from back in my day, the Hungarian Cardinal Joseph Mindszenty. There was such an outcry and effort by all Catholics to plead and work for his release from a Communist prison. As school kids we prayed as a class and contributed our dimes for organizations working for his freedom. What do you hear now from the Vatican regarding Cardinal Zen? The following snip from Wikipedia shares what Pius XII said in behalf...

[Catholic Caucus] The Vatican’s 3rd Deal with the Devil“Man’s schemes are inferior to those made by heaven.” ~Chinese ProverbNo one rains on Chairman’s Xi Jinping’s reign. On October 22, 2022, at the CCP 20th Party Congress, Chinese President Xi Jinping was elected to another term, adding another five years to his previously served 10 year presidency. Xi will remain in the politically powerful position as General Secretary of the CCP. His stated goal of Emperor for Life is now firmly established, unimpeded by a certain human rights trial in Hong Kong.Surely, the looming show trial of the revered and respected...

Vatican-China deal to be renewed, with no changes to termsROME – Amid increased controversy as a trial against a prominent Chinese cardinal continues to move forward in Hong Kong, the Vatican and China will for the second time renew their provisional agreement on the appointment of bishops.Speaking to Crux, a high-ranking Vatican official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the renewal publicly, said “the agreement with China is scheduled to be renewed on (the) 22nd of October 2022, with no changes to the terms.”The official stressed that this was not an official...

China's Catholic leaders vow to accelerate sinicization 10th National Congress of Catholicism in China elects new leaders who vow to toe Communist Party lineTwo state-sponsored Church bodies in China have elected new leaders during a five-yearly national conference who promised to invigorate the Catholic faithful pastorally in line with the socialist principles of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).The three-day 10th National Congress of Catholicism in China ended in Wuhan, the capital of Hebei province in central China, on Aug. 20. Senior officials from the CCP also attended the gathering and delivered speeches.The meeting attended by some 345 Catholic bishops, clergy,...

[Catholic Caucus] In Baoding Bishop An threatens to withhold the sacraments from those who do not registerIn the Diocese of Hebei, the official bishop published a pastoral letter claiming that over the past few months he concelebrated the liturgy with 30 priests who hitherto belonged to the underground Church. Using the pastoral guidelines issued by the Vatican in 2019, he is truing to get Catholics to join the Patriotic Association. A local source warns that the clergy has come under unprecedented pressure. The local Church had resisted so far, but now there is widespread confusion.Milan (AsiaNews) – On 15 July,...

Images of the day: Che GuePapa, the real Pope FrancisFrom our Bureau of Theological Perspicuity and Artistic GeniusItalian style. You’ve got to love it.While looking for images of Pope Francis, Tres Fotutos stumbled onto an article on the Viareggio carnival of 2017.Stunning. What a masterpiece, this carnival float. The angels Marx, Lenin, Fidel, and Mao are bobble-heads. The beret on Papa Che’s head has a red star on it. “Che GuePapa.” Artists Alessandro and Paolo Vanni deserve some major award. They’re not just great artists, but prophets, too, proven correct yesterday (for the billionth time) when Papa Che’s comments on...

At the Vatican the Game’s Afoot to Be the Most Pro-China. In the Lead is Sant’EgidioIn the photo above, Cardinal Joseph Zen Zekiun holds a sign calling for the release of the bishop of Xuanhua, Augustine Cui Tai, 72, who since 2007 has repeatedly ended up in prison for shorter or longer periods and is again under arrest in an unknown location.Tai is not alone among the bishops of China who have ended up behind bars or under house arrest. Xinxiang bishop Joseph Zhang Weizhu was imprisoned on May 21 2021 and since then has been detained who knows where....

Human Rights Advocates Respond After Pope Francis Says Vatican-China Deal ‘Moving Well’Littlejohn called on the Vatican to release the text of the Holy See’s provisional agreement with the Chinese Communist Party government, which has been kept secret since the agreement was first signed in 2018.VATICAN CITY — Human rights advocates have raised concerns about heightened restrictions on Christians in China after Pope Francis expressed hope that the Holy See’s agreement with Beijing will be renewed in the fall.Nearly four years after the Holy See entered into an agreement with Chinese authorities in September 2018, Pope Francis told Reuters in...

The Poisoned Fruits of a Poisonous Deal* Silence is a true friend who never betrays.” ~Confucius There is no better friend to Communist China than the Bergoglio Vatican. During the nine years of this interminable regime, the Holy See marched in quiet lockstep with Chinese President Xi Jinping and his brutal CCP enforcers while Xi launched a strategic campaign of terror against Chinese Catholics and Christians. The destruction and persecution of Catholics continues unabated in mainland China, and now, the once free Hong Kong is now firmly in the CCP’s crosshairs.More threatening than religious structures to the Communists are...

Did China successfully pressure the Vatican to remove two ambassadors from Asia?Pope Francis and China's Xi Jinping(LifeSiteNews) – A recent reappointment of two members of the Vatican’s diplomatic corps away from China has prompted speculation about Beijing’s influence over Vatican affairs, with the secretive Vatican-China deal due for renewal later this year.On January 31, Monsignor Arnaldo Catalan, a native of the Philippines and the Vatican’s highest ranking official in Taiwan (Republic of China), was moved to become the Apostolic Nuncio in Rwanda. In 1971, when the U.N. recognized representatives of the Republic of China as the only representatives of China...

On China, Francis says no to giving up dialogueIn the interview with Spanish Radio COPE, the Pope spoke at length about the agreement with China on episcopal appointments. “These are steps that can be questionable and the results on one side or the other.”Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis gave an interview with Spanish Radio COPE that was broadcast today. In it he talked about many issues, including China.For the pontiff, the steps taken and the results achieved in talks between the Holy See and China may be questioned on both sides, but he is convinced that dialogue must continue....

China Snubs Pope, Enforces New Clergy LawsChinese Communist Party rips to shreds secret concordat with VaticanBEIJING (ChurchMilitant.com) - In a further blow to Pope Francis' secret Sino-Vatican concordat, China is enforcing new draconian laws compelling clergy to "practice the core values of communism" and promote the "sinicization of religion" — under threat of criminal sanctions.Police remove a cross from a church in China The Measures for the Administration of Religious Clergy, issued by the Communist Party of China's (CCP) State Bureau of Religious Affairs (SBRA), came into force on May 1 — creating an "Orwellian system of surveillance" and tightening...

Xinxiang, the (Catholic) bishop, seven priests and 10 seminarians arrestedBishop Zhang Weizhu has been imprisoned on other occasions. A large number of policemen broke into the factory that served as a seminary and arrested the students and professors.Rome (AsiaNews) - In the space of just two days, almost all the ecclesiastical personnel of the apostolic prefecture of Xinxiang were wiped out with an operation by the police forces of the province of Hebei. Yesterday 21 May the bishop Msgr. Zhang Weizhu; the day before, seven priests and 10 seminarians were arrested.On the early afternoon of May 20, at least...

Five Great Catholics in Prison in Hong Kong. "They Are the Confessors of Our Day"On Friday April 16, in Hong Kong, nine top defenders of freedom were sentenced and put in prison. Five of them are Catholics. Father Gianni Criveller of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME), a professor of theology who spent twenty-seven years in China, has met them in person and on the very day of their entry into prison sketched a vibrant profile of them on "Mondo e Missione," the magazine of the PIME, and on “UCA News,” a Catholic outlet with a focus on Asia.With...