(LifeSiteNews) – As Confucius said, “A great man is hard on himself; a small man is hard on others.”
On Monday, September 19, 2022, the beloved and revered 90-year-old Cardinal Joseph Zen, the Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong, will walk into West Kowloon Court and face trial on charges of failing to legally register the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund. This fund was established to provide financial assistance to those in the democracy and freedom movement who protested the CCP crackdown in Hong Kong in 2019. Zen and 5 other defendants have pleaded not guilty to charges of “collusion” with foreign forces—a violation of China’s newly imposed National Security Law implemented in Hong Kong.
Zen has been a vocal opponent of the Vatican’s 2018 secret pact with the Chinese government. He has called the agreement “an incredible betrayal” as well as a “suicide pact and shameless surrender.” Not surprisingly, Zen’s description of the Vatican pact as “sending the flock into the mouths of wolves” was immediately proven apt once the agreement was signed and the Chinese government began to destroy churches, arrest priests, and shut down religious services.
Zen foresaw that the secret pact would “kill” the Underground faithful Catholic Church in China. He feared that those underground bishops and priests who refused to register with the CCP-run “Catholic Patriotic Association” would be harassed, arrested, detained, and disappeared. Not surprisingly, that is exactly what has happened. The Francis CCP deal has driven the Underground Church further underground.
Despite the universal condemnation of the Vatican-CCP pact by religious freedom organizations and the ongoing surge in religious persecution, the Vatican renewed the agreement in 2020. In anticipation in the renewal, Cardinal Zen personally traveled to the Vatican to meet and plead with the Pope Francis not to renew the agreement. The Pope refused to meet with the elderly Cardinal. There was no dialogue with the elderly Cardinal who opposed the Pope’s ambitions! Despite the surge in religious persecution by the CCP, the Vatican renewed the agreement, still keeping the terms secret.
Once the deal was signed, the CCP began its Hong Kong crackdown on freedom and democracy by targeting and arresting the leaders of the freedom movement, which is led primarily by Catholics. Many were charged and jailed, including Jimmy Lai, founder of the pro-democracy newspaper, Apple Daily, who remains in prison. The Vatican remained silent over this widespread attack on the democracy movement.
Cardinal Joseph Zen will now face the kangaroo court of the Chinese Communists. These tyrants believe Zen’s powerful and patriotic voice needs to be punished and silenced. As a beloved, humble, and saintly Prince of the Church, Zen should have the unwavering support of the Holy See. The Vatican should be issuing strong and condemnatory statements and protests against this unjust violation of his rights.
Instead, Bergoglio betrays his brother bishop. He mocks and abandons him in his hour of greatest need.
READ: Pope refuses to defend Cdl. Zen ahead of trial in Communist China, calls for ‘dialogue’
On his return trip from Kazakhstan, Francis was asked about Zen’s upcoming trial. His shocking response reveals that his papal regime has made its infernal bargain with the demonic CCP.
Here is the transcript from the papal press Q and A:
Elise Allen, CRUX:
Thank you for being with us this evening. Yesterday at the Congress, you spoke about the importance of religious freedom. As you know on the same day the president of China arrived in the city, where there has been great concern about this issue for so long, especially now with the trial that is going forward against Cardinal Zen. Do you consider the trial against him a violation of religious freedom?
Francis:
To understand China takes a century, and we do not live for a century. The Chinese mentality is a rich mentality, and when it gets a little sick, it loses its richness; it is capable of making mistakes. In order to understand we have chosen the path of, open to dialogue.
There is a bilateral Vatican-Chinese commission that is going well, slowly, because the Chinese pace is slow, they have an eternity to go forward: they are a people of endless patience. From the experiences we had before: we think of the Italian missionaries who went there and were respected as scholars; think also today, so many priests or believers who are called on by Chinese universities because this gives value to the culture.
It is not easy to understand the Chinese mentality, but it should be respected, I always respect this. And here in the Vatican, there is a dialogue commission that is going well, chaired by Cardinal Parolin and he is the person right now who knows the most about China and dialogue with the Chinese. It is a slow process, but steps forward are always being made.
Qualifying China as undemocratic, I do not identify with that, because it’s such a complex country … yes, it is true that there are things that seem undemocratic to us, that is true. Cardinal Zen is going to trial these days, I think. And he says what he feels, and you can see that there are limitations there. More than qualifying, because it is difficult, and I do wish to qualify, they are impressions, and I try to support the path of dialogue.
Then, in the dialogue you clarify many things and not only about the Church, also about other areas; for example the extent of China, the governors of the provinces who are all diverse. There are different cultures within China, it is a giant, and understanding China is an enormous thing. But you do not have to lose patience, it takes a lot, but we have to go with dialogue, I try to refrain from qualifying it… but let us go forward.
Note in Bergoglio’s response, he used the word “dialogue” 7 times when speaking favorably of the Chinese Communist Party. He seeks dialogue for the tyrannical atheistic CCP, but not for his elderly brother bishop, Joseph Zen.Bergoglio refuses to make a definitive statement in support of Cardinal Zen who is facing a show trial for his support of the Hong Kong democracy movement. Now, we know why Bergoglio won’t support Zen and defers to the CCP. In this interview, Bergoglio exposes his appalling opinion of China: “Qualifying China as undemocratic, I do not identify with that, because it’s such a complex country”
Shockingly, Jorge Bergoglio believes that the tyrannical brutal regime of President Xi is not undemocratic. That explains why Bergoglio remains stubbornly silent over the 1 million Uighurs in concentration camps, over the forced abortion and sterilization policy, the forced organ trafficking, the massive destruction of Catholic and Christian churches by the CCP, and the continued suppression of freedom of speech and religion throughout China. In Bergoglio’s relativistic, muddled, and compromised conscience, China is simply “complex.”
Equally insulting, the media’s darling “merciful pope” dismisses the CCP persecution and pleas of Cardinal Zen with astonishing derision and heartlessness.
Bergoglio responds: “Cardinal Zen is going to trial these days, I think. And he says what he feels, and you can see that there are limitations there.”
What limitations? For the last 75 years, Zen suffered under the brutal CCP, an untrustworthy partner and tyrannical government. Nevertheless, Cardinal Zen bravely confronts the brutal CCP and now facing prosecution. Is Bergoglio snidely referring to the age of Zen? Is this the same man who urged Catholics that the “elderly should be loved and honored?”
Bergoglio abhors Zen’s advocacy on behalf of freedom and democracy because it hinders Bergoglio’s political agenda with the CCP.
Dialogue for dialogue’s sake is an ideal scapegoat for Bergoglio. He elevates it to an ideal virtue-the holy grail above all others, allowing him to ignore sin, immortality, and evil. Consequently, dialogue for dialogue’s sake never confronts, and thus, never holds the CCP accountable for its persecution, genocide and violence against people of faith. Dialogue is Bergoglio’s sole magisterium—his beloved dogma, allowing him to abandon the tenets of the Catholic Church.
Cardinal Zen is an inconvenient obstacle to Bergoglio’s bold political power grab to bring about detente with the diabolical China, at any cost—including the betrayal of his brother bishop and the Catholic Church.
Elizabeth Yore is a child advocate attorney, panelist on the LSN Faith and Reason podcast and a frequent contributor on Steve Bannon’s War Room.