Ninety-year old Cardinal Joseph Zen, emeritus bishop of Hong Kong, was arrested yesterday on trumped up national-security charges after Chinese media implied that something like this would happen.
The Pillar this morning quotes some of the worst of the Holy See’s bureaucracy. Archbishop Paul Gallagher, a diplomat in the Secretariat of State there, said in the last year that, “Obviously Hong Kong is the object of concern for us. Lebanon is a place where we perceive that we can make a positive contribution. We do not perceive that in Hong Kong.”
That’s not what people of hope say.
They further quote him as saying: “One can say a lot of, shall we say, appropriate words that would be appreciated by the international press and by many countries of the world, but I — and, I think, many of my colleagues — have yet to be convinced that it would make any difference whatever.”
How wrongheadedly defeatist.
The truth is the truth. Cardinal Zen has been living his life ready to be martyred. Not only is silence perceived to be tacit support for the evil ways democracy advocates — and the Church — are being treated, but what a betrayal of everyone who is speaking out and putting their lives on the line for freedom in Hong Kong. I’m thinking of Jimmy Lai, among others.
Pope Francis has been a voice for the persecuted throughout his pontificate. It would be a blessing to the people willing to be martyrs for Christ if they knew the Holy See saw them and encouraged them and thanked them for their courage in the face of evil. A word is a contribution when your voice is heard the world over.