China's Catholic church may invite new Hong Kong cardinal to mainland

Joseph Cardinal Zen Ze-kiun, S.D.B.

Function: Bishop of Hong Kong [Xianggang]

Title:

Birthdate: Jan 13, 1932	Country: Hong Kong

Elevated: Mar 24, 2006	More information: [link=http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bzenz.html][www.catholic-hierarchy.org]

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China's Catholic church may invite new Hong Kong cardinal to mainland
Mar 17, 2006
China's state-controlled Catholic church may invite Hong Kong's newly appointed cardinal, Joseph Zen, to visit the mainland in hopes of improving Sino-Vatican relations, a newspaper reported Sunday.

(The China Post/AP, 2006/3/12) Hongkong - The church has recently discussed the possibility of inviting the outspoken critic of Beijing, the South China Morning Post newspaper quoted Chinese Bishop Fang Xingyao as saying.

Fang's comment was the first positive sign from the state-sanctioned church since Zen, a strong supporter of China's underground Catholics, was named cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI last month.

Fang, who is vice chairman of the Chinese Catholic Bishop's Regiment, also called on Zen to refrain from criticizing Beijing's policies and to help boost ties between mainland and Hong Kong churches.

"The normalization of diplomatic ties between China and the Vatican is very important, and we hope Cardinal Zen can make a personal effort to help solve the issue," Fang was quoted as saying in Beijing on the sidelines of the annual meeting of China's ceremonial legislature.

Fang's remarks contrasted sharply with another Chinese church leader, who on Friday said he suspected the Vatican appointed an anti-communist Hong Kong bishop as cardinal because the pope wanted to challenge Beijing.

Liu Bainian, vice chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, noted the Roman Catholic Church was active in toppling communism in Poland in 1989. He suggested that Zen's appointment was part of a similar strategy in China.

China forced its Roman Catholics to cut ties with the Vatican in 1951, shortly after the officially atheist Chinese Communist Party took power. People are only allowed to worship in government-controlled churches which recognize the pope as a spiritual leader but appoint their own priests and bishops.

But millions of Chinese belong to unofficial congregations loyal to Rome, and say they are frequently harassed, fined and sometimes sent to labor camps by authorities.

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