Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, retired bishop of Hong Kong A well-known cardinal from China, Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, flew to Rome to hand Pope Francis a seven-page letter appealing for him to pay attention to the crisis facing his country’s underground Church.
The former bishop of Hong Kong said underground clerics have cried to him since the Vatican-China deal on the appointment of bishops.
“They said officials have forced them to become open, to join the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and to obtain a priest’s certificate with the reason that the Pope has signed the Sino-Vatican provisional agreement,” said Cardinal Zen.
“Some priests have escaped, and some have disappeared because they do not know what to do and are annoyed. The agreement is undisclosed, and they do not know if what officials say is true or not,” he said.
Community
Cardinal Zen said the China Church was facing new persecution and the Holy See was helping the Chinese Communist Party suppress the underground community.
He was in Rome at the beginning of this month to hand his letter to the Pope. “I want to talk to the Pope again and hope he will consider again, but this may be the last time,” he said.
In his letter he described how the underground Church had seen money confiscated, with clergy having relatives disturbed by the authorities, going to jail or even losing their lives for the Faith.