The Church in Hong Kong is coming under mounting pressure as Beijing moves to extinguish opposition voices in the city under the new National Security Law.
The acting head of the local Church, Cardinal John Tong Hon, and his diocesan leadership, are curbing activist voices, in obeisance to the Communist Party leadership in Beijing, according to a report by Greg Torode of Reuters.
The Justice and Peace Commission, a diocesan human rights body that has traditionally championed political and religious liberty, has been marked out by Cardinal Tong for particular attention. In October, Torode was told, Tong’s executive committee, censored a statement on Sino-Vatican relations released by the commission, removing a reference to James Su Zhimin, the Bishop of Baoding, who was arrested by Chinese authorities more than 20 years ago and whose fate is unknown. For years, the commission had stood by Su, regularly issuing calls for his freedom.
The CCP also appears to be targeting the Vatican’s only political outpost in the territory or on the mainland, an unofficial mission in Kowloon. In May two Chinese nuns who work at the mission were reportedly arrested by the authorities when they visited their home in Hebei province. After being detained for three weeks they were placed under house arrest but are still forbidden to leave the mainland.
Beijing appears to be using the provisional 2018 agreement between the Vatican and the CCP on the appointment of bishops, that was renewed last year, to engineer the appointment of its favoured candidate to succeed Tong, 81, at the head of the Hong Kong Catholic church.
A number of priests told Reuters that Beijing has been quietly backing Fr Peter Choy for bishop, sending messages to that effect via mainland priests. Choy, 61, is vice-director of a diocese study centre that focuses on the evolution of the Church in China.
Many Catholics say Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha would be a popular choice among the faithful. Amid the protests last year he led a public prayer for peace and tried to mediate between police and protesters at a violent standoff at the city’s Polytechnic University.
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