Cardinal Joseph Zen arrives at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on May 24, 2022, in Hong Kong, China. / Photo by Louise Delmotte/Getty Images
Rome Newsroom, Oct 27, 2022 / 08:24 am (CNA).
The trial of Cardinal Joseph Zen resumed in Hong Kong on Wednesday, days after the Vatican announced the renewal of its agreement with Beijing.
Prosecutor Anthony Chau Tin-hang took the floor on Oct. 26 in the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court, where Zen and five other pro-democracy activists have been charged for failing to apply for local society registration for the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund between 2019 and 2021.
The prosecution argued that the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund needed to be registered with the police because of its “massive” size and “systematic” mode of operation, according to the South China Morning Post.
The fund helped pro-democracy protesters pay their legal fees until it dissolved itself in October 2021. Chau argued that the fund was political in nature and therefore did not qualify for the exemption in Hong Kong’s Societies Ordinance for organizations set up “for religious, charitable, social, or recreational purposes.”
The defense will make its arguments before Principal Magistrate Ada Yim Shun-yee on Oct. 31.
According to the defense, the Societies Ordinance was unconstitutional, gave an ambiguous definition of a “society,” and had requirements that went beyond what was necessary to protect national security, Asia News reported.
The Societies Ordinance required any club, company, partnership, or association of persons to register with the police commissioner or ask for an exemption within one month of its establishment.
Zen and the other democracy activists could face a $1,200 (HK$10,000) fine for violating the ordinance.
The cardinal was arrested in May along with other democracy activists under Hong Kong’s strict national security law but now faces a less serious charge. He has been free on bail since early May.
All the defendants have pleaded not guilty. Those accused with Zen are lawyer Margaret Ng, singer-activist Denise Ho, cultural studies scholar Hui Po-keung, activist Sze Ching-wee, and ex-legislator Cyd Ho, who is already jailed for a different charge.
The 90-year-old and retired bishop of Hong Kong’s most recent court appearance took place four days after the Vatican announced its decision to renew for another two years its provisional agreement with the Chinese government on the appointment of bishops. Zen has been one of the most outspoken critics of the Vatican’s agreement with China since it was first signed in 2018.
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Pope Francis greets a crowd of an estimated 25,000 people gathered in St. Peter’s Square in Rome for his Regina Caeli address on May 22, 2022. / Vatican Media
Vatican City, May 22, 2022 / 07:33 am (CNA).
In his Sunday Regina Caeli address, Pope Francis reflected on Jesus’ words to the disciples at the Last Supper in the Gospel reading from John: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”
Speaking to an estimated 25,000 pilgrims gathered on a bright day in St. Peter’s Square in Rome, the pope noted that Jesus also makes a point to add, “Not as the world gives do I give it to you” (John 14:27).
“What is this peace that the world does not know and the Lord gives us?” Pope Francis asked.
“This peace is the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit of Jesus. It is the presence of God in us, it is God’s ‘power of peace,'” he explained. “It is He, the Holy Spirit, who disarms the heart and fills it with serenity. It is He, the Holy Spirit, who loosens rigidity and extinguishes the temptations to attack others. It is He, the Holy Spirit, who reminds us that there are brothers and sisters beside us, not obstacles or adversaries.
“It is He, the Holy Spirit, who gives us the strength to forgive, to begin again, to set out anew because we cannot do this with our own strength. And it is with Him, with the Holy Spirit, that we become men and women of peace,” Pope Francis said.
“This is the source of the peace Jesus gives us,” he added. “For no one can leave others peace if they do not have it within themselves. No one can give peace unless that person is at peace.”
Pilgrims at St. Peter’s Square in Rome on May 22, 2022. In his Regina Caeli address, Pope Francis spoke about the peace of Christ. Vatican Media
Pope Francis said, “Let us learn to say every day: ‘Lord, give me your peace, give me your Holy Spirit.’ This is a beautiful prayer. Shall we say it together? ‘Lord, give me your peace, give me your Holy Spirit.’”
Again encouraging the crowd to pray with him, he said, “I didn’t hear it well. One more time: ‘Lord, give me your peace, give me your Holy Spirit.’”
Focusing on the context of Gospel reading, Pope Francis observed that Jesus’ words to his apostles are “a sort of testament.”
The pope said, “Jesus bids farewell with words expressing affection and serenity. But he does so in a moment that is anything but serene,” referring to Judas’ unfolding betrayal and Peter’s imminent denial that he even knows Jesus.
“The Lord knows this, and yet, he does not rebuke, he does not use severe words, he does not give harsh speeches,” Pope Francis said. “Rather than demonstrate agitation, he remains kind till the end.”
He continued, “There is a proverb that says you die the way you have lived. In effect, the last hours of Jesus’ life are like the essence of his entire life. He feels fear and pain, but does not give way to resentment or protesting. He does not allow himself to become bitter, he does not vent, he is not impatient. He is at peace, a peace that comes from his meek heart accustomed to trust.”
In so doing, “Jesus demonstrates that meekness is possible,” the pope observed.
“He incarnated it specifically in the most difficult moment, and he wants us to behave that way too, since we too are heirs of his peace,” he said. “He wants us to be meek, open, available to listen, capable of defusing tensions and weaving harmony. This is witnessing to Jesus and is worth more than a thousand words and many sermons. The witness of peace.”
Pope Francis invited all disciples of Jesus to reflect on whether they behave in this way.
“Do we ease tensions, and defuse conflicts? Are we too at odds with someone, always ready to react, explode, or do we know how to respond nonviolently, do we know how to respond with peaceful actions? How do I react?” he asked.
“Certainly, this meekness is not easy,” while adding ,“How difficult it is, at every level, to defuse conflicts!”
Jesus understands this. He knows “that we need help, that we need a gift,” the pope explained.
“Peace, which is our obligation, is first of all a gift of God.”
Pope Francis said that “no sin, no failure, no grudge should discourage us from insistently asking for this gift from the Holy Spirit who gives us peace.”
“The more we feel our hearts are agitated, the more we sense we are nervous, impatient, angry inside, the more we need to ask the Lord for the Spirit of peace,” he said.
Pilgrims gather at St. Peter’s Square in Rome on May 22, 2022, for Pope Francis’ Regina Caeli address. Vatican Media
Pope Francis invited the crowd to pray with him, “Lord, give me your peace, give me your Holy Spirit.” He added, “And let us also ask this for those who live next to us, for those we meet each day, and for the leaders of nations.”
After praying the Regina Caeli at noon, Pope Francis commented on the beatification in Lyon, France, later on Sunday of Pauline Marie Jericot, who founded the Society of the Propagation of the Faith for the support of the missions in the early 19th century. The pope called her “a courageous woman, attentive to the changes taking place at the time, and had a universal vision regarding the Church’s mission.”
Pope Francis continued: “May her example enkindle in everyone the desire to participate through prayer and charity in the spread of the Gospel throughout the world.”
Pope Francis also noted that Sunday marked the beginning of “Laudato Si’ Week,” a weeklong reflection inspired by his 2015 encyclical on the environment. He called the observance an opportunity “to listen ever more attentively to the cry of the Earth which urges us to act together in taking care of our common home.”
Pope Francis also mentioned that May 24 marks the Feast day of Mary Help of Christians, who is “particularly dear to Catholics in China.”
He added that Mary Help of Christians is the patroness for Chinese Catholics and is located in the Shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai in addition to many churches and homes throughout the country.
“This happy occasion offers me the opportunity to assure them once again of my spiritual closeness” to believers in China, he said.
“I am attentively and actively following the often complex life and situations of the faithful and pastors, and I pray every day for them,” he said.
“I invite all of you to unite yourselves in this prayer so that the Church in China, in freedom and tranquility, might live in effective communion with the universal Church, and might exercise its mission of proclaiming the Gospel to everyone, and thus offer a positive contribution to the spiritual and material progress of society as well.”
Pope Francis also greeted participants in Italy’s annual pro-life demonstration, titled Scegliamo la vita, or in English, “Let’s Choose Life.”
“I thank you for your dedication in promoting life and defending conscientious objection, which there are often attempts to limit,” Pope Francis said.
“Sadly, in these last years, there has been a change in the common mentality, and today we are more and more led to think that life is a good at our complete disposal, that we can choose to manipulate, to give birth or take life as we please, as if it were the exclusive consequence of individual choice,” the pope said.
“Let us remember that life is a gift from God! It is always sacred and inviolable, and we cannot silence the voice of conscience,” he concluded.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies on her nomination to become an Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on March 22, 2022. / Mandel Ngan/Pool/AFP … […]
Reception of Pope Benedict XVI from Federal President Christian Wulff at Schloss Bellevue on Sept. 22, 2012, in Berlin, Germany. / Credit: vipflash / Shutterstock
CNA Newsroom, Dec 30, 2022 / 07:02 am (CNA).
The Vatican said on Friday that Pope… […]
2 Comments
May I throw out some suggestions based on estoppel on statute and general law.
The topic on statute estoppeles in the Commonwealth is adequately summed up in the 2 links, Modern Law Review (Wiley) and Osgoode Hall (Digital Commons).
Both titles are important, “Estoppels against Statutes” and “Contradictory Government Action”. The sources discussed are all on point and seminal, it depends on the category of issue involved. One has to look at actions, representations, inducements, etc.
I can offer my own summary but I think if the material has application the advocates involved should have a go on it unaffected by any viewpoint. In any event both articles are skillfully written and well worth exploring in depth.
I would just point out that the authorities actually demonstrate that in the common law the idea that discretionary decision and action, of public authorities, generally are immune from review by the courts, IS FALSE and alien to the law.
And that is so in spite of assertions to the contrary all the way up to the House of Lords/Supreme Court of Judicature.
Wouldn’t you like to know!
By the looks of it the case for Cardinal Zen and company, has been submitted already; but quite likely there is time to make additional pleading and amendments if necessary.
Apart from estoppel there are the other areas like 1. retroactive imposition, where they may be trying to enforce the law later but can not implicate guilt under a prior policy; and 2. if non-compliance only created procedural consequences, there is no lawlessness.
Could it be the Prosecution is “trying to get the courts to re-work prior policy decision of public authority that had already been validly exercised”?
‘ Prosecutor Anthony Chau Tin-hang maintained that the fund, initially set up to support those injured or arrested during the extradition bill movement in 2019, was political in nature and did not qualify for an exemption. ‘
May I throw out some suggestions based on estoppel on statute and general law.
The topic on statute estoppeles in the Commonwealth is adequately summed up in the 2 links, Modern Law Review (Wiley) and Osgoode Hall (Digital Commons).
Both titles are important, “Estoppels against Statutes” and “Contradictory Government Action”. The sources discussed are all on point and seminal, it depends on the category of issue involved. One has to look at actions, representations, inducements, etc.
I can offer my own summary but I think if the material has application the advocates involved should have a go on it unaffected by any viewpoint. In any event both articles are skillfully written and well worth exploring in depth.
I would just point out that the authorities actually demonstrate that in the common law the idea that discretionary decision and action, of public authorities, generally are immune from review by the courts, IS FALSE and alien to the law.
And that is so in spite of assertions to the contrary all the way up to the House of Lords/Supreme Court of Judicature.
Wouldn’t you like to know!
By the looks of it the case for Cardinal Zen and company, has been submitted already; but quite likely there is time to make additional pleading and amendments if necessary.
Apart from estoppel there are the other areas like 1. retroactive imposition, where they may be trying to enforce the law later but can not implicate guilt under a prior policy; and 2. if non-compliance only created procedural consequences, there is no lawlessness.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1966.tb01094.x
https://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=2071&context=ohlj
Could it be the Prosecution is “trying to get the courts to re-work prior policy decision of public authority that had already been validly exercised”?
‘ Prosecutor Anthony Chau Tin-hang maintained that the fund, initially set up to support those injured or arrested during the extradition bill movement in 2019, was political in nature and did not qualify for an exemption. ‘
https://www.licas.news/2022/10/28/cardinal-zens-trial-reopens-in-hong-kong-days-after-vatican-china-deal-renewal/