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Cardinal Zen’s trial reopens in Hong Kong days after Vatican-China deal renewal

October 27, 2022 Catholic News Agency 2
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 mourns 23 children and several adults killed in Thailand daycare attack

October 7, 2022 Catholic News Agency 1
Pope Francis prays on St. Peter’s Square, Oct. 5, 2022 / Daniel Ibáñez / CNA

CNA Newsroom, Oct 7, 2022 / 02:31 am (CNA).

Pope Francis has expressed deep sorrow and mourning at the news of a deadly rampage at a daycare center in Thailand that left at least 34 people dead — 23 of them children.

In a telegram signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, the pontiff offered his heartfelt condolences.

“Deeply saddened to learn of the horrific attack that took place at a child-care centre in Uthai Sawan, His Holiness Pope Francis offers his heartfelt condolences and the assurance of his spiritual closeness to all those affected by this act of unspeakable violence against innocent children,” the message said.

The pope prayed that grieving families and all those injured would receive support from their neighbors and concluded his message with “blessings of peace and perseverance in every good”.

According to media reports, the massacre was perpetrated by a single man, armed with a gun and knife, on Oct. 6 in the town of Uthai Sawan, some 310 miles northeast of the capital Bangkok.

Authorities identified the man as a former police officer, apparently facing trial on a drugs charge. The motive is still the subject of an ongoing police investigation. Drawing on local media coverage, Reuters reported the perpetrator had initially gone to collect his child after attending court earlier in the day. Upon not finding his child there, he began the attack.

According to a report by BBC News, only one child survived the killing spree.

The 34-year-old attacker then returned home, killed his wife and step-child before committing suicide, several media drawing on local authorities reported.

The massacre is understood to be one of the worst involving children in history.

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The Dispatch

Cardinal Zen stands trial in Hong Kong

September 26, 2022 Catholic News Agency 4

Cardinal Joseph Zen. / Iris Tong via Wikimedia (Public Domain).

Rome Newsroom, Sep 26, 2022 / 02:40 am (CNA).
Cardinal Joseph Zen and five others stood trial in Hong Kong on Monday for failing to properly register a fund to provide legal aid to… […]

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Report: Pope Francis sought to meet with Xi Jinping, but China declined

September 16, 2022 Catholic News Agency 2
President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping during the G20 summit in Hangzhou, China. / Gil Corzo/Shutterstock

Denver Newsroom, Sep 16, 2022 / 12:00 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis expressed his “availability” to meet with Chinese president Xi Jinping while both men were in Kazakhstan this week, but China declined, according to a Reuters report citing an unnamed Vatican official. 

Pope Francis was in Nur-Sultan, the Kazakh capital formerly known as Astana, Sept. 13–15 for an interreligious meeting, while Xi was in the same city to meet with Kazakh president Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, one day after the pope did.

According to Reuters, the source said the Vatican made “an expression of availability,” and the Chinese side said they “appreciated the gesture” but that there was no free time in Xi’s schedule. 

A meeting of the two leaders would have been momentous; there has never been a meeting between a pope and a president of China. Pope Francis has said he is willing to visit China, saying on the flight from Rome to Kazakhstan on Sept. 13: “I’m always ready to go to China.”

The coinciding visits of Francis and Xi also comes as the Holy See and China determine the renewal of a provisional agreement on the appointment of bishops in China and a cardinal is preparing to stand trial in Hong Kong for his role in a pro-democracy legal fund.

Xi has been harshly criticized for overseeing the persecution of religious believers of many stripes in China, including Christians and the Uyghur Muslims of the Xinjiang region.

Kazakhstan and China, which are neighbors, have close ties, with large-scale Chinese investments in the Central Asian country’s natural resources through its Belt and Road Initiative. Xi announced his plan for a “new silk road” in the Kazakh capital in 2013. The Chinese leader met with Vladimir Putin in Uzbekistan on Thursday as part of Xi’s first trip outside China since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pope Francis has said little about China’s human rights violations since the Vatican first entered into a provisional agreement with China in 2018. That deal was meant to unify the country’s 12 million Catholics, divided between the underground Church and the Communist-administered Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, and clear a path for the appointment of bishops for Chinese dioceses. Despite the deal, persecution of the underground Church has continued and, according to some, intensified. That deal is expected to be renewed for another two years at the end of the month. 

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