The 93-year-old cardinal was given back his passport for the trip to Rome for Pope Francis’ funeral after querying the rushed start to pre-conclave meetings days earlier.
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Hong Kong’s Cardinal Joseph Zen has been allowed to attend Pope Francis’ funeral after Chinese communist authorities returned his passport for the trip.
According to the Associated Press, the 93-year-old cardinal left Hong Kong on Wednesday night, beginning his journey to Rome for the Saturday funeral of Pope Francis.
The AP reported his secretary as saying that he would return to Hong Kong following the funeral, though no specific date was given.
Zen recently queried the Vatican decision to begin the pre-conclave General Congregations of cardinals less than 26 hours after Francis’ death. In a statement issued Monday night, he wrote:
Cardinal Zen would like to know why the first session of the General Congregations has to start so early. How are the old men from the peripheries supposed to arrive on time. There is the kind word reminding them that they do not have the duty to attend, but they have the right – yes or no?
Given his age, Zen has the right to participate in the General Congregations but not to vote in the papal conclave.
The retired Hong Kong ordinary had to undergo similar submission to the Chinese authorities when attempting to attend the January 2023 funeral of Pope Benedict XVI. He was given a leave of just five days outside Hong Kong for the trip.
Previously, in 2020, he was famously granted just 120 hours outside of Hong Kong, which he used to fly to Rome in an attempt to meet Pope Francis. However, Francis was reportedly “very busy” and did not receive the cardinal in audience. Zen had been visiting to ask the pontiff personally for a new ordinary to lead the Catholic Church in the Beijing-controlled territory.
During Zen’s visit for Benedict’s funeral he was granted an audience with Pope Francis, who he described as “very warm.”
Zen has faced notable hostility from the communist authorities in recent years. In May 2022 he was arrested under the terms of China’s draconian 2020 National Security Law, along with fellow trustees of the now-defunct 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, who subsequently joined him in court.
The 612 Fund was established to offer “legal, medical, psychological, and emergency financial assistance” to those involved in the 2019 protests against the government’s Extradition Law Amendment Bill, which sought to allow prisoners to be transferred to mainland China for trial.
He was subsequently found guilty of the lesser offense of failing to properly register the now-defunct 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, and was consequently fined HK $4,000 ($512). Zen and his fellow defendants had pled not guilty.
Zen has been an outspoken critic of many elements of Francis’ pontificate, including on issues such as same-sex "blessings" in Fiducia Supplicans, the Synod on Synodality, restrictions of the Traditional Latin Mass, and the Vatican’s deal with China on the appointment of bishops – the product of Francis and Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
Indeed, Zen has been a leading critic of the Sino-Vatican deal, calling out Parolin's actions in facilitating the deal and lamenting the "betrayal" of the Catholic Church in China which does not wish to subject itself to the communist state control.
Undaunted by age, Zen has kept up a steady flow of activity, both with his writings online and with his local ministry offering talks.
His presence at the funeral will likely be a key opportunity for him to offer his insight to the cardinals as they prepare for the next conclave.
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