Pope Francis ‘ death in Vatican City was held in Hong Kong on April 1. Cardinal Joseph Zen, a resolute Roman Catholic, was permitted to leave the southern Chinese capital.
Zen, a 93-year-old withdrew priest, left Hong Kong on Wednesday evening after filing an application with the court to return his passport, his secretary wrote in a text message on Thursday. Authorities took his passport after his contentious imprisonment in 2022 in accordance with a Beijing-imposed federal safety rules.
Zen is one of the new critics who claimed Zen’s recent criticism of the Vatican’s decision to appoint priests betrays pro-Vatican Chinese Catholics. Additionally, he has criticized Pietro Parolin, the official in charge of the discussions with Beijing, as a “man of small faith.” Given his fame in the Catholic order, Parolin is regarded as one of the leading contenders to become bishop.
According to media reports on Tuesday, Zen reportedly questioned why pre-conclave sessions began on Tuesday and had issued a criticism of the Vatican. Zen reposted the reporters ‘ posts about his speech on his X bill despite the fact that the AP was unable to independently verify the information.
His secretary stated that Zen did travel back to Hong Kong after the late priest’s death, which is scheduled for Saturday. However, she didn’t know when he would gain. Zen did this before and it was necessary to cross the state’s court to keep Hong Kong. He went through the same ceremonies in 2023 to pay his respects to the later Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
Zen was first detained in 2022 on fear of conspiring with foreign troops in accordance with the safety rules. His incarceration shocked the Catholic Church at the time.
Zen and five people were fined in 2022 after being found guilty of failing to register a now-defunct account that aimed to assist those arrested in common 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, despite not having yet faced costs related to national security. A reading on his appeal against the judgment is scheduled for December.
Hong Kong friar Stephen Chow may also go to the Vatican on Thursday, according to the city’s Catholic Social Communications business.
A Beijing bishop who was appointed archbishop by China’s state-controlled Christian church in 2023 was invited by Chow to visit Hong Kong. A Beijing bishop’s first formal visit to the city was made in 1993. Chow’s offer, according to experts at the time, was seen as a symbolic gesture that might develop China’s and Vatican’s tense relations.
Following the expulsion of foreign monks and the rise of the Chinese Communist Party, Beijing and the Cathedral cut diplomatic relations. Christians in China have been divided between those who are a member of an official, state-approved religion and those who are a member of an underground chapel that are close to the bishop since the coup. Both members of the Vatican are Catholic, but the Vatican claims the exclusive right to elect new priests.
