China announces new crackdown on religious freedom

The Black Nazarene is a centuries-old Filipino devotion. / Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 5, 2022 / 16:26 pm (CNA).
In 2015, Msgr. Jose Clemente Ignacio, the rector of the Minor Basilica of the Black Nazarene, spoke with CNA about … […]

Hong Kong, China, Oct 23, 2019 / 05:00 pm (CNA).- Amid continued controversy surrounding large-scale political protests in Hong Kong, and fears of a crackdown by the Communist Chinese government, Catholic leaders are echoing protesters’ calls for an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality.

“I ask the Lord to move the government of the special administrative region to respond to the public opinion, and set up an ‘Independent Commission of inquiry’ so that the community can begin with the truth and begin the path of real reconciliation,” Hong Kong Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing, a supporter of the protest movement, wrote on Facebook Oct. 21.

“During a gathering last Saturday, I am so moved by our young faithful who expressed their views on our Church’s participation in the society. Again, I am convinced that one of the necessary ways to resolve the current difficult situation in Hong Kong is the setting up of an ‘independent commission of inquiry,’” he continued.

Bishop Ha’s statement was posted as the legislature of Hong Kong completed the process of officially withdrawing a controversial extradition bill Wednesday, which would have allowed the Chinese government to extradite alleged criminals from Hong Kong to the mainland to stand trial.

The impetus for the bill was a case involving a young Hong Kong man whom Taiwan requested be extradited for an alleged murder. Hong Kong previously has no formal extradition agreements with mainland China or Taiwan.

Christians and advocates widely opposed the bill, fearing that the Chinese government, which already seeks to control and suppress Chistianity on the mainland, would use it to further tighten its grip on free exercise of religion in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China. Hong Kongers enjoy freedom of worship and evangelization, while in mainland China, by contrast, there is a long history of persecution for Christians who run afoul of the government.

An estimated 1 million protesters turned out at the first major demonstration June 6. Catholics have played a major role in the protests since then.

Bishop Ha reiterated calls for prayer, urging the faithful to pray the rosary during the month of October and finish with the intention: “Mary, untier of knots, please pray for us!”

Bishop Ha has taken part in ecumenical prayer rallies with protesters in the past, urged an increase in prayer and said he is concerned for the safety of the many young people involved in the protests. He told CNA in September that he urges “Friday fasting” as part of the prayer for peace in Hong Kong.

Though chief executive Carrie Lam suspended the bill June 15 and even apologized, protesters feared that the proposal could be reintroduced. The next day, an estimated 2 million marchers were out on the streets.

Though the protests have been largely peaceful, participants on both sides have periodically resorted to violence. Police have used rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannon on protesters repeatedly. Thousands of high school and college students staged a strike on the first day of classes Sept. 2, with many wearing gas masks and helmets.

Police shot an 18-year-old protester in the chest Oct. 1, and Jimmy Sham, leader of the pro-democracy group Civil Human Rights Front, was hospitalized last week after being attacked by a group of men wielding hammers and knives at a protest.

Since the protests have gone on, Beijing has instituted a travel ban for some Catholics seeking to enter the island, and Chinese officials are reportedly concerned that Catholics on the mainland could work with the Catholic Church in Hong Kong to inspire similar resistance.

Protesters are demanding that Lam resign for her failure to respond to their demands.

Though Lam has said she has no plans to resign, the Financial Times newspaper reported recently that China’s government is drawing up plans to remove Lam and replace her with an interim chief executive after calm returns to Hong Kong, though China’s foreign ministry responded to the report calling it “a political rumour with ulterior motives.”

Cardinal Joseph Zen, bishop emeritus of Hong Kong and a sharp critic of the Sept. 2018 Vatican-China deal on the appointment of bishops, also has spoken strongly in support of the protesters and in support of an independent inquiry into the police’s tactics.

“We denounce the escalation of police brutality and arbitrary use of force against peaceful protesters, reporters, first-aiders, and ordinary citizens of Hong Kong. We believe it is in China’s interest to show the global community; it is not an enemy of open society and democracy,” a statement from the International Coalition for Democratic Renewal in Hong Kong reads, which Zen shared on social media Oct. 23.
 

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Pope Francis presides over the first-ever papal Mass on Mongolian soil in Ulaanbaatar’s Steppe Arena on Sept. 3, 2023. / Andrea Gagliarducci/EWTN

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Sep 3, 2023 / 03:30 am (CNA).

Catholics from across Asia traveled to Mongolia to attend the country’s first-ever papal Mass with Pope Francis on Sunday.

“For people in Asia … we do not have a lot of opportunities to meet the pope personally, so for many of us, for most of us, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and it is like a dream come true for many many Asians,” Hee Jung Choi from Seoul told CNA at the Mass on Sept. 3.

While papal Masses on the pope’s other international trips can draw hundreds of thousands of people, the Mass in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar only had an estimated 2,500 in attendance — presenting a rare opportunity to personally meet the pope for many attendees.

“We came to Mongolia to ask the pope to visit Vietnam,” Father Huynh The Vinh of the Vietnamese diocese of Phu Cuong said.

Huynh is one of 90 Vietnamese Catholics who made the journey to Mongolia to see the pope, along with seven bishops from the country.

Catholics from South Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Russia, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan attended the Mass in the sports arena, according to the Vatican. The visiting Catholics nearly doubled Mongolia’s small Catholic population of 1,450 people.

Among the crowd were Catholics from mainland China, who risked retribution from their government to attend the Mass with the pope. At the end of the Mass, Pope Francis called Cardinal-elect Stephen Chow, the bishop of Hong Kong, and Cardinal John Tong Hon, Hong Kong’s bishop emeritus, to his side as he shared a special message to Chinese Catholics.

Pope Francis added that he wanted to “send a warm greeting to the noble Chinese people.”

“I ask Chinese Catholics to be good Christians and good citizens,” he said.

Pope Francis arrived in the Steppe Arena to enthusiastic cheers of “Viva Papa!” as he made his way around the arena in a small golf cart, stopping to kiss babies and shake hands.

In his homily, reflected on the words of Psalm 63, “my soul thirsts for you,” — words that he said accompany “our journey through life, amid all the deserts we are called to traverse.”

Pope Francis said that the words of the psalmist, who laments the thirst of his soul as if in a “dry and weary land,” have “particular resonance in a land like Mongolia: immense, rich in history and culture, yet also marked by the aridity of the steppes and the desert.”

The Gobi Desert, the sixth largest in the world, stretches across the bottom third of Mongolia. It has an extremely harsh climate with temperatures that can range from 113°F to -40°F.

Speaking in a place steeped in a nomadic tradition, Pope Francis said: “All of us are ‘God’s nomads, pilgrims in search of happiness, wayfarers thirsting for love. The desert of which the Psalmist speaks, then, is our life.”

“Many of you know both the satisfaction and the fatigue of journeying, which evokes a fundamental aspect of biblical spirituality represented by Abraham and, in a broader sense, by the people of Israel and indeed every disciple of the Lord,” the pope said.

Over the last half-century, as many as one-third of Mongolia’s people have left the countryside, where they lived as nomadic herders, to live in the capital Ulaanbaatar. With around 3.3 million people, Mongolia remains one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world.

In a country so familiar with the hardships of long journeys, the pope told the crowd that the Christian faith is “the answer to our thirst.”

“We thirst for love, for only love can truly satisfy us, bring us fulfillment, inspire inner assurance, and allow us to savor the beauty of life,” he said.

“Dear brothers and sisters, the Christian faith is the answer to this thirst; it takes it seriously, without dismissing it or trying to replace it with tranquilizers or surrogates. For in this thirst lies the great mystery of our humanity: it opens our hearts to the living God, the God of love, who comes to meet us and to make us his children, brothers and sisters to one another.”

Quoting Saint Augustine’s “On the Psalms,” Pope Francis said: “‘Lest we grow faint in this desert, God refreshes us with the dew of his word… True, he makes us feel thirst, but then comes to satisfy that thirst… God has been merciful to us; he has opened for us a highway in the desert: our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“‘He has offered us a source of consolation in that desert: the preachers of his word. He has offered us water in that desert, by filling those preachers with the Holy Spirit, so as to create, in them, a fount of water springing up to life everlasting.’”

Catholics prayed in Chinese and Russian during the prayers of the faithful after the pope’s homily. Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, the apostolic prefect of Ulaanbaatar and the world’s youngest cardinal, served as the main celebrant of the Mass.

“At the heart of Christianity is an amazing and extraordinary message. If you lose your life, if you make it a generous offering, if you risk it by choosing to love, if you make it a free gift for others, then it will return to you in abundance, and you will be overwhelmed by endless joy, peace of heart, and inner strength and support,” Pope Francis said.

“[W]hen we lose our lives for the sake of the Gospel, the Lord gives them back to us abundantly, in the fullness of love and joy for all eternity,” he said.

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