The head of China’s state-backed Catholic Church will visit Hong Kong later this month, following a landmark visit to the Chinese capital by the Bishop of Hong Kong in April.
The Diocese of Hong Kong announced last week that Archbishop Joseph Li Shan of Beijing – the president of the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association – would make a five-day visit to the city on 14 November at the invitation of the recently-installed Cardinal Stephen Chow.
Li will meet Chow and “different diocesan offices to promote exchanges and interactions between the two dioceses” said the announcement.
Chow, whose visit to Beijing in April was the first by a Hong Kong bishop in nearly three decades, said it was “important that we are connected...everything starts with a humanity first, not by structure, not by policy, but human connection.”
Speaking last Saturday, he said he wanted to foster better communication between Hong Kong and China, adding that Hong Kong could be a “Bridge Church” between China and the world.
Li’s visit is contentious, given recent friction in relations between China and the Vatican over the operation of their 2018 agreement, as well as fear that Beijing is pursuing tighter control over religious affairs in Hong Kong, where the 401,000 Catholics make up roughly 16 per cent of the population.
It is not clear whether Li will meet Cardinal Joseph Zen, the 91-year-old former Bishop of Hong Kong, who has been a consistent critic of the 2018 agreement between the Vatican and China.
Zen was temporarily detained by the Hong Kong authorities last year on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces, under a Beijing-imposed national security law that has jailed or silenced many democracy activists.
He had threatened to boycott a Thanksgiving Mass on 4 November to mark Chow’s elevation to the College of Cardinals if Li was present. In the event, the diocese did not announce any official invitation for Li and Zen did attend the Mass in the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
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