The trial of Chinese cardinal Joseph Zen and five other defendants begins today in Hong Kong. They were arrested under the new national-security law which bans sedition, secession, foreign interference, and the like. Cardinal Zen and his compatriots are charged with a technical crime — for not registering their organization, the 612 Humanitarian Fund — under new laws instigated by the Chinese Communist Party. The Fund was used to defend democracy activists in Hong Kong.

According to a helpful report by Elise Ann Allen at Crux, the defense is going to say that it had the right to form its civil organization under Hong Kong’s Basic Law, the original 1997 agreement between the United Kingdom and China.

Zen is 90 years old. He was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict in 2006, and he retired as bishop of Hong Kong in 2009. In 2011, Zen received $20 million from Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai (also arrested by the Communists), which he distributed to the underground church and the poor in mainland China.

I have a question: Will the Vatican continue to remain silent?