Critics of the Vatican’s policy of seeking dialogue with Communist China are right to regard the arrest of Cardinal Joseph Zen as a warning of worse to come. The Chinese government regards conformity with its policies as a civic duty and a test of loyalty, a test the 90-year-old cardinal clearly fails. But Zen, Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong, is not acting outside his competence or authority as a senior Catholic leader. In upholding human rights he is upholding an integral part of the Church’s teaching.
It may not suit the Vatican’s negotiators with Beijing to say so, however, as a tacit downplaying of the political aspects of the Catholic Church’s proper role in any society may have been the price that had to be paid to reach an agreement. The temptation is to accept the demand that the Church should remain in the sanctuary and not “interfere” – as its opponents would describe it – in matters of state.
19 May 2022, The Tablet
Zen is fulfilling his role as a Catholic leader
Vatican-Beijing relations
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User Comments (1)
'in his blog, Benedict Rogers points out that it does seem rather odd to call yourself a Catholic and then arrest your cardinal'
is simply ridiculous.
I can easily envisage being a Catholic and demanding the arrest of a Cardinal.