A Communist Regime Arrests a Cardinal Again -- Please, Pray for Cardinal Zen! (Updated: released from custody for now)

The news shocked the whole Catholic world today -- decades after the arrests of Cardinals by Communist regimes, a situation all thought would remain in the past, the 90-year-old Cardinal Joseph Zen, Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong and a huge friend of the Traditional Mass, was arrested today by the Communists currently yielding power in the former British colony. We tweeted it as soon as it became public, about 4 hours ago:

Solemn Requiem Mass for Cardinal Kung in D.C.

In the Archdiocese of Washington there has been a growing number of traditional Latin Masses in recent years, including seven (public) TLMs offered every Sunday. Near the Catholic University of America in Northeast is the parish of Saint Anthony of Padua, which has graciously accommodated dozens -- hundreds -- of CUA students who desire the old Mass on Sundays, holy days and occasional feasts.

Saint Anthony's, with guest clergy, will host a traditional Latin Requiem High Mass on Saturday, February 26th, at 11 a.m. for Ignatius Cardinal Kung. The celebrant of the Mass, a priest of the Diocese of Hong Kong, has shared the following for our readers:

There will be a Solemn High Requiem Mass for Ignatius Cardinal Kung, in solidarity with the persecuted Church in China on Saturday, February 26th at 11:00 AM at Saint Anthony of Padua Church in the Brookland neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Ignatius Cardinal Kung was consecrated Bishop of Shanghai in 1950 and in 1955 was imprisoned by the Chinese Communist Party for 33 years as punishment for refusing to join the Patriotic Association. In 1986 he was named a cardinal in secret by St. John Paul II. In 1986 he was released from prison and settled in America. 

Why we should pray to St. Joseph Freinademetz and for the Church in China - by Roberto de Mattei

Few know about and pray to St. Joseph Freinademetz, a missionary saint who deserves our devotion in the present hour.

Joseph was born in Oies, in Val Badia, a village in the meadows and woods at the foot of high mountains, on April 15 1852, into a family of peasants of deep faith. He was a Tyrolean, or more precisely a Ladin, a subject of Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria-Hungary. The Ladins are a linguistic community spread through several valleys of the Dolomites and served by the diocese of Bressanone. It was in this small town in South Tyrol that Joseph was ordained a priest on July 25 1875. He made the choice to become a missionary and entered the Society of the Divine Word founded a few years earlier by Saint Arnold Janssen (1837-1909).

The Deafening Silence of Pope Francis on China's Persecution of Catholics

 We are praying to Immaculate Mary for the health and safety of Jimmy Lai and his family, and for all Catholic and non-Catholic victims of persecution in the most formidable tyranny of our age, Communist China.

From The Wall Street Journal's opinion page (Dec. 7, 2020), main excerpt:

Jimmy Lai has embraced his destiny. Last Wednesday the founder of one of Hong Kong’s most popular newspapers, Apple Daily, was arrested on ginned-up fraud charges. On Thursday he was clapped into jail as a national security risk. Thus did a man who started the week a Hong Kong billionaire end it a Chinese dissident.

Mr. Lai’s jailing has provoked condemnation from figures as diverse as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Soviet refusenik Natan Sharansky and New York Rep. Eliot Engel. They have been joined by journalists, activists and politicians such as the Labour Party’s Sarah Champion and other members of Parliament who on Monday raised Mr. Lai’s plight in Britain’s House of Commons.

But there is one place where China’s bullying elicits only silence: the Vatican.

China & the Vatican -- Cardinal Zen: "Parolin knows he is lying. He knows that I know he is a liar. He knows that I will tell everyone that he is a liar."

For Love of Truth I Will Not Remain Silent

Cardinal Joseph Zen

Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong

 

I read the speech given by Cardinal Parolin, Secretary of State of His Holiness, in Milan on October 3. [Rorate: in that speech, Cardinal Parolin defended the Vatican's attitude and deal, and the confirmation of the deal, with Communist China.] It was sickening! He is in no way stupid or ignorant, he told a series of lies with open eyes.

The most repugnant thing was the insult to the emeritus Pope Benedict XVI by saying that he approved then the agreement signed by the Holy See two years ago, knowing that our sweetest, most gentle Benedict certainly will not come out to deny it. It was also very ridiculous and humiliating for the innocent Cardinal Re being “used” once more to support the falsehoods of the Most Eminent Secretary.

Parolin knows he himself is lying. He knows that I know he is a liar. He knows that I will tell everyone that he is a liar. He is not just shameless but also daring. What will he not dare to do now? I think he is not even afraid of his conscience. 

I am afraid he does not even have faith. I had this impression when Parolin, the Secretary of State, in a commemorative speech in honor of Cardinal Casaroli praised his success in establishing the ecclesiastical hierarchy in the Communist countries of Europe, saying that “when you look for bishops, you don’t look for ‘gladiators,’ who systematically oppose the government and who like to show themselves off on the political stage.”

I wrote to him, asking if he intended to describe Cardinal Wyszynski, Cardinal Mindszenty and Cardinal Beran. He replied without denying. He only said that if I was displeased with his speech, he apologized. But one who despises the heroes of faith has no faith!

The History

Let’s see how Parolin summarized the history.

De Mattei: An eminent Cardinal, but not very prudent

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

August 5, 2020

Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun is an eminent prelate who sincerely loves his country and the Church. Born in Shanghai in 1932, ordained to the priesthood in the Salesian Order in 1961, he was appointed Bishop by John Paul II in 1996 and created Cardinal by Benedict XVI in 2006. Between 1996 and 2009 he was coadjutor and subsequently Archbishop of the diocese of Hong Kong, No one knows better than he does the complexity of the political and religious situation in China.

On January 9, 2016, Cardinal Zen, today Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong, voiced severe criticism of the Vatican policy towards China which has evolved during the pontificate of Pope Francis. The Vatican reporter, Sandro Magister sums up the situation in these terms: “Since it has been in power, in fact, the Chinese Communist Party has wanted to set up a Church submissive to itself and separate from Rome, with bishops appointed by its own exclusive warrant and ordained without the approval of the Pope, subjugated to a “Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association” that Benedict XVI called “irreconcilable” with Catholic doctrine. An “official” Church, therefore, on the brink of schism. Interwoven with an “underground” Church led by bishops not recognized by Beijing and absolutely faithful to the Pope, who however, pay the full price of clandestinity: oppression, surveillance, arrest, abduction.”1.

Cardinal Zen is the voice today that best represents this “subterranean” Church.  “I am the voice of the voiceless not only to protest against the Communist Authorities, but also to put certain questions to our Roman Authorities. All these years actions were posited which offend the doctrine and the discipline of our Church: illegitimate and excommunicated bishops perform pontifical rites and sacred ordinations, legitimate bishops take part in illegitimate Episcopal ordinations up to four times; almost the total participation of the bishops of the official community at the National Assembly of Catholic representatives. No word came from Rome! Don’t our brothers  in China have the right to be confused and pose questions?”2

The Papal slap

A lot of people have weighed in on Pope Francis repeatedly slapping the hand of a pilgrim in St Peter’s Square. Reactions have not divided simply along ideological lines. Austin Ruse suggested, on Twitter, that Pope Benedict and Pope John Paul II would have reacted even more fiercely to a pilgrim grabbing their hands and not letting go. I was undecided myself at first. The pilgrim’s action did seem a little aggressive. On the other hand, there she is, in the video, a rather small Chinese lady, making a sign of the cross to steel herself to take the hand of the much larger Pope, surrounded by body guards. From what one can see of the timing of the incident, the Pope reacts as he does not to the surprise of the physical aspect of the gesture, but to what she is saying. She is saying something about Hong Kong…

De Mattei: The Roman Primacy Disfigured by the Successor of Peter

Roberto de Mattei

Correspondenza Romana

September 26, 2018

The impressive rapidity with which events are unfolding one after the other in the Church makes one think that this is due not only to the dynamics of historical acceleration, but a deliberate choice by the agents of chaos to increase disorientation and paralyze the forces that are seeking to resist the rush of the tide.

For the Record: Holy See announces agreement on Bishop nomination with People's Republic of China

From today's Bollettino:

Communiqué

concerning the signing of a Provisional Agreement

between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China

on the appointment of Bishops

Today, 22nd September 2018, within the framework of the contacts between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China that have been underway for some time in order to discuss Church matters of common interest and to promote further understanding, a meeting was held in Beijing between Msgr. Antoine Camilleri, Undersecretary for the Holy See’s Relations with States, and H.E. Mr. Wang Chao, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, respectively heads of the Vatican and Chinese delegations.

During that meeting, the two representatives signed a Provisional Agreement on the appointment of Bishops.

The above-mentioned Provisional Agreement, which is the fruit of a gradual and reciprocal rapprochement, has been agreed following a long process of careful negotiation and foresees the possibility of periodic reviews of its application. It concerns the nomination of Bishops, a question of great importance for the life of the Church, and creates the conditions for greater collaboration at the bilateral level.

The shared hope is that this agreement may favour a fruitful and forward-looking process of institutional dialogue and may contribute positively to the life of the Catholic Church in China, to the common good of the Chinese people and to peace in the world.

[Original text: Italian]

No details have been made public, and the text of the agreement has not been made public.

Guest Op-Ed - Musings from the Chinese Underground: "The Vatican is forcing us to obey perverted bishops!"

By Guest-contributor 小鱼儿

I recently read Msgr. Anthony Figueiredo's interview in the National Catholic Register. I initially wanted to ignore his statements, like I did with other Chinese "experts". However, these past few months, the Church in China received "seismic tremors" too strong to ignore.

Considering the gravity of the matter, I thought I would share my humble musings with Rorate Caeli readers.

Surprise surprise! We have another Chinese "expert" talking about the Church in China. Mind you, an "expert" who doesn't speak Chinese, doesn't understand Chinese culture, and whose experience of China is visiting government-approved places. (What I like to call "tourist traps".) How absurd is that? It's like an Argentinian saying he's an expert on the United States because he once visited Jacksonville, Florida!

Why don't we have REAL Chinese people and experts at the diplomacy table? Why did they get rid of 2 high-ranking prelates (Cardinal Zen and Archbishop Hon), and replace them with "prelate-tourists" who praise Communism? Why did an 86-year-old retired Cardinal need to fly to Rome in order to hand-deliver a letter to the Holy Father? Mind you, it's a 14-hour flight!

These professional diplomats, who AREN'T Chinese and who know little about China, are making grave decisions affecting the lives of millions of Catholics. And I for one am afraid... afraid of their foolishness and naïveté!

They wish to help us regularize our situations and aid in our evangelization efforts, yet they're taking away our moral authority. They're forcing us to follow and obey hypocritical bishops who have mistresses and fathered children, who pervert the teachings of Jesus Christ, and who kowtow to the Golden Calf.

De Mattei: Opponents of Ostpolitik – Part 2: Father Alessio Ulisse (1920-1986)

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

February 28, 2018

Paul VI receives Andrei Gromyko

Among the staunchest opponents of the Vatican Ostopolik, a figure of remarkable cultural and moral stature should be remembered: Father Alessio Ulisse Floridi (1930-1986).

A member of the Company of Jesus at a very young age, Father Floridi studied at the Pontifical Russian College, where he learned Russian perfectly and, in 1949, he was ordained a priest in the Byzantine Rite  His hope was to be part of an underground apostolate in Russia, just like some of his confreres, but his superiors wanted him at La Civiltà Cattolica, the journal which was the pride and joy of the Company.  Father Floridi became the sovietologist par excellence of this journal,  collaborating with articles written from first-hand reading of newspapers, journals and documents coming [directly] from the Soviet Union.  His articles rich in notes and personal comments, were read and appreciated for their accuracy by the Communists themselves, both in Italy and abroad.

Requiem Mass and Litany for the Church in China, Monday, February 26, 2018, in New York City

This Monday, February 26, 2018, there will be a Solemn Requiem Mass and Absolution at the Catafalque to mark the 100th Anniversary of the Happy Valley Racecourse Fire in Hong Kong at which 670 people perished. The Mass is at the Pontifical Shrine of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in New York City at 7:30 PM.

Following Mass, the Sacred Ministers will change from black to violet vestments and lead the choir and people in a procession throughout the Church singing a Solemn Litany of the Saints to beseech our Lady of Mt. Carmel and the Communion of Saints to intercede for the persecuted Church in China and protect it against the attacks it faces today.

At the Requiem Mass, the choir will sing the Missa pro defunctis for six voices by Manuel Cardoso (1566-1650). The Mass is being sponsored by a family that lost five members in the tragedy.

Bishop Li, semper fidelis, dies at 97

Bishop Li in 2013

Bishop Luke Li Jingfeng of Fenghsiang, an 'underground' bishop consectrated secretly, died this morning (11:20pm GMT) at 97. Please pray for him.

Bp. Li was a pillar of traditionalism, as well as of true fidelity to the See, in the Chinese speaking Church. 

In his nineties he translated the 1962 missal into Chinese, to aid Chinese speaking clergy in the understanding of the prayers. This massive project will continue to be of great significance for Chinese Catholics far into the future.

On a more personal level, he and some of the priests in his diocese gave the old Mass movement much support.

The Novus Ordo Missae was not introduced into China until the 1980s, so there remains a generation of priests who were taught the the ancient Mass in seminary. See the FIUV Position Paper on the Extraordinary Form and China.

Events: Traditional Latin Masses during the 51st International Eucharistic Congress in Cebu, PhilippinesUpdate - Pictures of Cardinal Zen's Mass, additional TLM included

UPDATE (1/26/16):

Friends from the Philippines have sent us the following pictures of the Traditional Latin Masses on January 25 and 26, and even the surprise announcement today at the International Eucharistic Congress, of Cardinal Zen's Mass.

1. Invitation to IEC delegates to attend the TLM of Cardinal Zen.

Double-standards at work in the selection of Synod members? The curious cases of Cardinal Tong Hon and Archbishop Cordileone

I. Did the Vatican lie in excluding Cardinal Tong Hon?

The final list of the members of the 2015 Synod of Bishops includes a good number of prelates past the "retirement age" of 75, including a handful of octogenarian Cardinals: Tettamanzi (81), Kasper (82), Danneels (82), Sgreccia (87), and Sodano (88 in November of this year). Many others are between the ages of 75 and 80, such as Cardinal Damasceno Assis (one of the four President-Delegates of the Synod, who is 77), the Curial dicastery heads Cardinals Coccopalmerio (77), Amato (77), Veglio (77), and many others. Without falling into blind faith in the "biological solution" against liberalism -- there are, after all, a good number of liberal theologians and prelates in their 40's, 50's and early 60's -- it should be noted that the "Kasperite camp" has as its most prominent leaders and promoters, Cardinals in their late 70's and 80's, including a majority of the prelates mentioned above. (Sgreccia and Amato are staunch conservatives on moral issues, though, as is the 77-year-old Cardinal Carlo Caffarra of Bologna.)

Why, then, was Cardinal John Tong Hon, the 76-year-old Archbishop of Hong Kong, one of three President-delegates of the 2012 Synod on the New Evangelization, and papally-appointed delegate to the 2014 Synod, told by the Vatican that he could not attend this year's Synod because he is too old? The Asian Catholic news agency UCANews broke the news on August 31:

Event: Solemn Pontifical High Mass on Low Sunday - Hong Kong

His Eminence Joseph Cardinal Zen, S.D.B., Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong will celebrate a Pontifical High Mass for us this upcoming Sunday (12th April, Low Sunday), at 3:00pm in St. Teresa's Church, Kowloon, Hong Kong. (Additional details below.)

All are welcome!

Please, Pray for the Catholics of Hong Kong this Friday

Event: Summorum at 7 - Mass and Conference by Fr. Berg in Hong Kong, Sep. 14

The Tridentine Liturgy Community of the Diocese of Hong Kong sends us the following announcement:

From our Mailbox You Report: When Cardinal Zen visited our Parish You Suggest: Le Barroux Abbot to celebrate Solemn Mass in the Netherlands

1. You Report, from a reader in Hong Kong:

Last Sunday (4/5), a Solemn High Mass was celebrated in the Rosary Church, Hong Kong.

Cardinal Zen was also present and gave sermon during the mass. He preached the importance of Hermeneutic of Continunity and reminded the faithful not to see the Second Vatican Council and the Council of Trent as two rivalling extremes.

He also reminded the faithful to always keep the Catholics in Mainland China in our daily prayers. Mainland Chinese Catholics are also at the heart of the Cardinal. He talks about them nearly every time as he comes to celebrate the Traditional Mass.

One interesting thing to notice is that, besides Cardinal Zen himself, there were also two Salesians present at the mass: the deacon, Fr Albert Ho, SDB and subdeacon Bro Carlos Cheung, SDB - worth noticing that the Tridentine Liturgy Community has mass every Sunday in the Salesian Parish.

________________________________

2. From a reader in the Netherlands:

Coming Saturday, May 10, at 11 AM, the Abbot of Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux, Dom Louis-Marie de Geyer d'Orth, will celebrate a Solemn Mass in the beautiful and immense Basilica of Sts. Agatha and Barbara in Oudenbosch, Netherlands, organised by the Dutch Latin Liturgy Society (Vereniging voor Latijnse Liturgie) which, until 2007, focused only on the Novus Ordo in Latin.

This is the first time this Society is organising a Holy Mass according the extraordinary form during their General Assembly.

Why is this Bishop smiling?

While bishops are forced by the government of the People's Republic of China to take part in illicit consecrations, and others have to be protected by their clergy from the threat of kidnapping by government agents (see report by AsiaNews), the Brazilian Episcopal Conference (CNBB) actually welcomes a delegation of the State Administration for Religious Affairs of the same regime. They were invited to Brazil by the (Protestant-run) Brazilian Bible Society and were received by the Secretary of the Episcopal Conference, Bishop Leonardo Ulrich Steiner: "Led by the vice-minister for Religious Affairs, Jiang Jianyong, and 11 other civil servants of the Chinese government, the delegation visited the CNBB [on July 14] with the goal of knowing the work accomplished by the Catholic Church in Brazil and to propose an exchange between both Episcopal Conferences[sic]." (Source: Brazilian Episcopal Conference; tip: Fratres in Unum)

So, while the Holy See is theoretically in charge of excruciatingly difficult negotiations with the Beijing regime under terrible circumstances, the Brazilian Bishops are conducting a parallel Ostpolitik with the persecutors of the Church in China, amidst smiles? Good grief...

[Note (1610 GMT): The news item has now been removed from both the Conference website and its blog. Thanks to Fratres in Unum for saving this indelible picture, which we ask our many readers in the Eternal City to make known to the appropriate authorities of the Holy See: the image of a Church out of control.]

[Note (1900 GMT): Fratres in Unum also managed to save a screenshot of the Conference blog, with even more smiles and laughter, while faithful priests and bishops remain under arrest or under watch in the People's Republic (click to enlarge).]