It’s no big secret that the Chinese government hates Catholicism and Christianity in general. In fact, they’ve been pretty open about it.
Cardinal Joseph Zen and five others were found guilty on Friday of failing to register a fund that helped pay for the legal fees and medical treatments of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters.https://t.co/j64ulJyvfP
— EWTN Vatican (@EWTNVatican) November 25, 2022
More from Catholic News Agency:
Cardinal Joseph Zen and five others were found guilty on Friday of failing to register a fund that helped pay for the legal fees and medical treatments of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters.
The 90-year-old cardinal and former bishop of Hong Kong was fined about $500 (HK$4,000). Each of the other trustees of the now-defunct 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund was fined the same amount.
Zen told reporters after the verdict on Nov. 25: “Although I’m a religious figure, I hope this (case) won’t be associated with our freedom of religion. It’s not related.”
Perhaps Cardinal Zen is just trying to keep the peace, so to speak, by downplaying the fact that he is a Catholic figure whose Catholicism automatically makes him a target of the ChiComs. But the Vatican shouldn’t be concerned about keeping the peace with the ChiComs. At least that’s what we’d like to believe. But these days, the Vatican, the global center of the Catholic faith, apparently can’t be trusted to stand up for her faithful.
As expected, Cardinal Joseph Zen is found guilty in Hong Kong of failing to register a charity. Pray for him and all those caught in this web of injustice. (Awaiting something—anything from the Vatican.) https://t.co/bag5KjsUhT
— Raymond Arroyo (@RaymondArroyo) November 25, 2022
The Vatican did eventually offer a comment on Cardinal Zen’s guilty verdict … and this was apparently the very best they could muster:
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Astoundingly, the official Vatican News account of Cardinal Zen’s unjust conviction ends with this: ..”Zen has also criticized the Chinese Communist Party for ALLEGEDLY persecuting religious communities.” The willingness to ignore reality is truly scandalous. pic.twitter.com/jEheOipUVa
— Raymond Arroyo (@RaymondArroyo) November 25, 2022
The Chinese Communist Party does not allegedly persecute religious communities; they indisputably do it. They actively, proudly, and unapologetically do it. Even if the Vatican perversely chooses to downplay the Chinese government’s persecution of Catholics, what about the Uyghurs Muslims? The ChiComs are currently waging a genocidal campaign against the Uyghurs, complete with forced sterilization, physical and emotional torture, and concentration camps. There’s no way on God’s green earth that the Vatican is unaware of the Chinese Communist Government’s crackdowns on religious communities.
It's just so heartbreaking. Shame on them.
"Allegedly "
— VirginiaRoyal (@VirginiaRoyal8) November 25, 2022
You don’t need to be Catholic or even religious at all to have a huge problem with the Vatican’s response here.
Sadly not only silence from Pope Francis but now this absurd reporting by Vatican News speaks volumes to faithful Catholics world-wide.
— Veronica (@SursumCordae) November 25, 2022
i’m surprised they said anything
— barbara cappaert (@junkgourmet) November 25, 2022
In a way, it actually might have been better if they’d just stayed silent. At least if they had chosen to say nothing, they never would have told the whole world that they refuse to take a stand against religious persecution. Although, now that we think about it, maybe it’s good that they responded they way they did after all, because now the whole world knows where the Vatican stands and can regard them accordingly.
What an embarrassing Vatican response https://t.co/uGt9PsYHs6
— Emily Zanotti (@emzanotti) November 25, 2022
What, exactly, does Pope Francis think his role is as head of the Catholic Church? To just shrug off the ChiComs’ blatant religious persecution is offensive enough, but to shrug it off despite being very vocal about issues like climate change and the scourge of plastic straws is so outrageously offensive. It’s enough to make you physically sick.
Absolutely shameful. "Astoundingly" is indeed one way to put it. https://t.co/4bz91d9MZy
— Rebecca Downs (@RebeccaRoseGold) November 25, 2022
Where is the Vatican’s sense of shame? Their sense of decency? If they can’t even be bothered to stand up for Catholics, they might as well pack it up now, because they no longer serve a useful purpose for Catholics or for society as a whole. Cardinal Zen and Catholicism as a whole deserve so much better.
This is disgraceful. https://t.co/kdIXnhkdgr
— Vanessa (@Nessakins_) November 25, 2022
This is absolutely appalling.
— An inconsequential man. (@NutterCricket) November 25, 2022
https://twitter.com/gailfinke/status/1596142683474767874
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