HONG KONG (AP) — Cardinal Joseph Zen, the 93-year-old retired bishop of Hong Kong and a vocal critic of the Chinese government, has been permitted to leave the city to attend the funeral of Pope Francis in Vatican City. Zen departed Hong Kong on Wednesday night after securing the return of his passport through a court application. His passport had previously been confiscated following his arrest under the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2022.
Zen has been an outspoken critic of recent Vatican agreements with Chinese authorities regarding the appointment of bishops, arguing that such agreements betray pro-Vatican Chinese Catholics. He has publicly attacked Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, who is responsible for the negotiations with Beijing, labeling him a "man of little faith." Parolin is viewed as a potential candidate for the next pope due to his prominence within the Catholic hierarchy.
On Tuesday, media reports indicated that Zen had issued a critique of the Vatican, questioning the early timing of pre-conclave meetings. While the Associated Press could not independently verify this information, Zen shared posts from reporters regarding his statement on his social media account. According to Zen's secretary, he plans to return to Hong Kong after Pope Francis' funeral, which is scheduled for Saturday, although the exact return date remains uncertain.
This is not the first instance in which Zen has had to seek court approval to leave Hong Kong. In 2023, he underwent similar legal procedures to pay respects to the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, during which he met Pope Francis in a private audience. Notably, Zen was first arrested in 2022 under the suspicion of colluding with foreign forces in the context of the national security law, a move that shook the Catholic community at the time.
Although Zen has yet to face specific national security charges, he and five other individuals were fined in 2022 for failing to register a fund that was designed to assist individuals arrested during the widespread 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. An appeal hearing regarding his conviction is set for December.
Separately, Cardinal Stephen Chow from Hong Kong is also set to travel to the Vatican for the conclave, as stated by the city's Catholic Social Communications Office. In 2023, Chow invited a Beijing bishop, who had been installed by China’s state-controlled Catholic Church as an archbishop, to visit Hong Kong. This milestone marked the first official visit by a Beijing bishop to the city, and experts noted that Chow's invitation represented a symbolic gesture to strengthen the tenuous relationship between China and the Vatican.
The diplomatic ties between Beijing and the Vatican were severed following the rise of the Chinese Communist Party and the expulsion of foreign priests. Since this split, Catholics in China have been divided between those who belong to the state-sanctioned church and those in the underground church that remains loyal to the pope. While the Vatican recognizes adherents of both factions as Catholics, it asserts its exclusive right to appoint bishops.
As Cardinal Zen makes his way to Vatican City, his actions continue to reflect the ongoing complexities and challenges faced by the Catholic Church in navigating its relationship with China amid the increasing tensions fueled by national security laws and political repression.
