The silence from the Vatican is deafening. Especially from those are the very top. Pray for Cardinal Zen: Trial Verdict expected this Friday Written by Press Release Print Don't forget that Cardinal Zen is in prison for protesting against the communist regime in China. He has had zero support from the Vatican, who instead is renewing its secret-not-secret deal with the CCP. Zen is not wholly without allies, however. Bishop Strickland is offering Mass today for the good cardinal as he faces a mock-trial the likes of which Nazi Germany would be proud. Let's follow Bishop Strickland's example and storm Heaven this week with our prayers and sacrifices. God bless and protect Cardinal Zen. https://remnant-tv.com/video/hell-is-in-session-stand-with-cardinal-zen-
St John Fisher comes to mind. But at least then Rome was not complicit. This situation is unprecedented.
He is so likeable, lovable actually. It’s just disgusting that this is happening to him, they’re making him an example.
You’re so right. In 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 of Cardinal Mindszenty: On 12 February 1949, Pope Pius XII announced the excommunication of all persons involved in the trial and conviction of Mindszenty. On 20 February 1949, the Pope addressed a series of questions to a crowd which had gathered in St. Peter's Square to protest the Cardinal's show trial, asking: "Do you want a Church that remains silent when She should speak; that diminishes the law of God where she is called to proclaim it loudly, wanting to accommodate it to the will of man? Do you want a Church that departs from the unshakable foundations upon which Christ founded Her, taking the easy way of adapting Herself to the opinion of the day; a Church that is a prey to current trends; a Church that does not condemn the suppression of conscience and does not stand up for the just liberty of the people; a Church that locks Herself up within the four walls of Her temple in unseemly sycophancy, forgetting the divine mission received from Christ: 'Go out the crossroads and preach the people'? Beloved sons and daughters! Spiritual heirs of numberless confessors and martyrs! Is this the Church you venerate and love? Would you recognize in such a Church the features of your Mother? Would you be able to imagine a Successor of St. Peter submitting to such demands?" According to Sister Pascalina, who witnessed the rally, "In reply to the Holy Father came a single cry like thunder still ringing in our ears.” Now the church of accompaniment concerns itself with green and gay as Cardinal Zen is in the hands of persecutors. May an angel of the Lord free him as with St. Paul. The church on earth has failed him. https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/in...44-hell-is-in-session-stand-with-cardinal-zen
Cardinal Zen We the Catholic faithful from all around the world, love you and we are praying for you! May God allow you to feel this at this moment, through the Grace of Our Most Blessed and Virginal Mother Mary, Mother Of Christ! . Amen. May the Blessed Virgin Mary ever hold you under her mantle! Amen
Hong Kong court convicts Cardinal Zen, 5 others over fund to help arrested protestors November 25, 20222:15 AM ET THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HONG KONG (AP) — A 90-year-old Roman Catholic cardinal and five others in Hong Kong were fined after being found guilty Friday of failing to register a now-defunct fund that aimed to help people arrested in the widespread protests three years ago. Cardinal Joseph Zen, a retired bishop and a vocal democracy advocate of the city, arrived at court in a black outfit and used a walking stick. He was first arrested in May on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces under a Beijing-imposed National Security Law. His arrest sent shockwaves through the Catholic community, although the Vatican only stated it was monitoring the development of the situation closely. While Zen and other activists at the trial have not yet been charged with national security-related charges, they were charged with failing to properly register the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, which helped pay medical and legal fees for arrested protesters beginning in 2019. It ceased operations in October 2021. Zen, alongside singer Denise Ho, scholar Hui Po Keung, former pro-democracy lawmakers Margaret Ng and Cyd Ho, were trustees of the fund. They were each fined 4,000 Hong Kong dollars ($512). A sixth defendant, Sze Ching-wee, was the fund's secretary and was fined HK$2500 ($320). https://apnews.com/article/religion-china-arrests-beijing-hong-kong-eff0b1cff01a12abb8869c2d58d02911
The Pope’s betrayal of Cardinal Zen By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Sep 21, 2022 The trial of Cardinal Joseph Zen has been postponed, but the indomitable 90-year-old prelate will face judgment soon enough, under the draconian new “security laws” imposed on Hong Kong by the Chinese government. Meanwhile Pope Francis faces his own judgment, in the court of public opinion, for his failure to defend Cardinal Zen—or, for that matter, to criticize the regime that is prosecuting him. When questioned about the trial, by a reporter who accompanied him on his flight home from Kazakhstan, the Pontiff gave this utterly unsatisfactory reply: Cardinal Zen is going to trial these days, I think. And he says what he feels, and you can see that there are limitations there. More than qualifying, because it is difficult, and I do wish to qualify, they are impressions, and I try to support the path of dialogue. Cardinal Zen is going to trial, “I think,” says the Pope. A Prince of the Church is being tried as a criminal, by a regime that tramples on human rights, and the Roman Pontiff can only say that he “thinks” he is briefed on the trial schedule? Clearly Pope Francis wants to downplay the significance of this event. Just as clearly, he does not want to make any statement in defense of the embattled cardinal. Thus he offers his “impressions,” as if it were a matter on which he could not make an informed judgment. Actually, even before giving that non-responsive answer to the question about the Zen trial, the Pope had launched into a broad discussion of relations between the Holy See and Beijing, mentioning the “bilateral Vatican-Chinese commission that is going well” and the “dialogue commission that is going well.” This in reference to the secret agreement between Rome and Beijing governing the appointment of new bishops for the Church in China. Those discussions are going so well that, four years after the secret agreement was signed, roughly one-third of all Chinese dioceses are now functioning without a bishop. Nonetheless, hapless Vatican diplomats seem desperate to renew that accord, and the Pope is anxious to avoid saying anything that might offend the sensitive ears of Chinese Communist leaders. So, in responding to that question about Cardinal Zen’s predicament, Pope Francis answered questions that the reporter (Elise Allen of Crux) had not posed. Before even mentioning the Zen trial, he devoted more than 200 words to the Rome-Beijing dialogue, the Chinese mentality, and the notion that the Chinese regime is not democratic. Again, notice that this question had not been raised by the reporter; the Pontiff brought it up himself: Qualifying China as undemocratic, I do not identify with that, because it’s such a complex country ... yes, it is true that there are things that seem undemocratic to us, that is true. Once again we have only the Pope’s “impressions,” rather than clear statements, much less denunciations. He does not want to say that China in undemocratic. He does allow, however, that some of Beijing’s actions might seem undemocratic to our unsophisticated Western understanding. Does it seem undemocratic when the regime jails an elderly prelate, charging him with the heinous crime of providing legal support for human-rights activists? Pope Francis does not answer that question. In a scathing Wall Street Journal column, William McGurn writes: “The pope declined to even say China was undemocratic. All that was missing was a cock crowing in the background.” McGurn notes that the trial of Cardinal Zen comes as the Vatican and Beijing are negotiating renewal of their secret agreement. So it might be awkward for the Vatican to criticize the Chinese regime. But Beijing evidently feels no compunction about giving offense to Rome; presumably the government could have scheduled the cardinal’s trial at a more auspicious time. For that matter, Chinese officials might have scheduled the latest round of negotiations for some site other than Tianjin: a city where Bishop Melchior Shi is living under house arrest. We are not privy to the conversations that the Pope says are “going well,” but every available indication suggests a thoroughly one-sided process, with Beijing dictating the terms and the Vatican meekly accepting whatever it can salvage. But will the Vatican try to salvage the freedom of Cardinal Zen? Or will he be sacrificed to the cause of the Vatican-Beijing agreement—like the bishops of the “underground” Church, who were inveigled to resign their posts so that bishops sanctioned by Beijing could replace them? Leaders of other nations have rallied to the cardinal’s defense. It is scandalous that the Vatican, which he loyally serves, will not speak the truth—the truth that China is undemocratic, the truth the Cardinal Zen is a brave defender of God-given human rights, the truth that will set him free. By the way, a month has passed since I wrote about the arrest of Bishop Rolando Alvarez, who dared to criticize an undemocratic government in Nicaragua. What I wrote is still true. Inside sources in Rome say that the Vatican has been working quietly, diplomatically, to secure the freedom of Bishop Alvarez, since police of the Ortega regime surrounded his chancery building two weeks ago. But if that is the case, we could add “ineffectively” to that list of adverbs, because today the police staged a pre-dawn raid and took the bishop into custody. Prompting this immediate response from the Vatican: cont. here: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/popes-betrayal-cardinal-zen/
On 12 February 1949, Pope Pius XII announced the excommunication of all persons involved in the trial and conviction of Mindszenty. On 20 February 1949, the Pope addressed a series of questions to a crowd which had gathered in St. Peter's Square to protest the Cardinal's show trial, asking: "Do you want a Church that remains silent when She should speak; that diminishes the law of God where she is called to proclaim it loudly, wanting to accommodate it to the will of man? Do you want a Church that departs from the unshakable foundations upon which Christ founded Her, taking the easy way of adapting Herself to the opinion of the day; a Church that is a prey to current trends; a Church that does not condemn the suppression of conscience and does not stand up for the just liberty of the people; a Church that locks Herself up within the four walls of Her temple in unseemly sycophancy, forgetting the divine mission received from Christ: 'Go out the crossroads and preach the people'? Beloved sons and daughters! Spiritual heirs of numberless confessors and martyrs! Is this the Church you venerate and love? Would you recognize in such a Church the features of your Mother? Would you be able to imagine a Successor of St. Peter submitting to such demands?" According to Sister Pascalina, who witnessed the rally, "In reply to the Holy Father came a single cry like thunder still ringing in our ears.” I can't allow the above beautiful quote of Pius XII to slip away. O Jesus, King of martyrs, save us!
The criticism of the Vatican regarding this particular case strikes me as rather unfair. So far, Cardinal Zen is only facing a relatively small fine for what seems to have been a misdemeanour. We don't know whether that's down to quiet Vatican diplomacy. Do the people calling on the Pope to make a big stink out of this really care about the Cardinal or do they want to see him get a custodial sentence for the pending charge? What if the Vatican publicly condemns the Chinese for subjecting the Cardinal to this trial and verdict? How will making an international incident of it help the Cardinal? Does anyone really believe that it would get the charges dropped? Isn't it more likely that the Chinese regime would double down and make an example of the Cardinal, sentencing him to spend what could be the rest of his life in prison? The Pope deserves criticism for refusing to meet Cardinal Zen and hear his objections to the agreement in China. He also deserves criticism for giving the Chinese government a role in choosing Bishops and for his apparent betrayal of the faithful Bishops in China. Those issues and the matter of the civil trial against Cardinal Zen are separate. It seems to me that they are being linked together by people who may not have the Church's best interests at heart but see an opportunity to pursue a secular agenda. Communism is condemned by the Church. I'm not sure that democracy is an article of faith, but some people seem to treat it as such. The Great Commission is to bring the Faith to the ends of the earth, baptising all nations in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Democracy didn't get a mention from Jesus but some people act as though the Faith and democracy are inseparable. They aren't.
democracy is not an article of faith, but what the zen cardinal has been defending involves something much bigger than that, which is the freedom of every believer to follow Christ without risk of governmental persecution; in fact, what is happening in china is a very efficient way of destroying the sacrament of confession, as the fear of espionage and repression against the churches could end up alienating the faithful from it.
