Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun Chinese authorities have ordered journalists not to describe an outspoken retired cardinal as the ‘emeritus’ bishop of Hong Kong, but to use ‘former’ instead.
Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun was outspoken in his disdain for the ruling Communist Party, and raised issues regarding political freedom, human rights and religious persecution.
He expressed a willingness to get involved in political debates about Hong Kongs’s future, which drew favour from pro-democracy groups but attracted a lot of criticism from Beijing.
The new terminology on how to refer to Cardinal Zen was part of broader list of words and phrases to be “banned or used with care” handed to journalists in the state-run Xinhua News Agency, coming in at number 48.
Cardinal Zen is the only Catholic Church public figure named on the list, which is divided into five categories: social and political; legal and laws, religions and ethnicity; Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan (sovereignty-related) and international relations.