The Wall Street Journal-Editorial Board: “China has already crushed political dissent, a free press and an independent judiciary in Hong Kong, and its latest target is religious liberty… There’s no doubt the main political target is Cardinal Zen, an outspoken critic of China’s religious persecution. He has criticized the Vatican for its 2018 agreement with Beijing that requires that bishops be acceptable to the atheist Communist leadership, among other concessions. Cardinal Zen called the secret pact `selling out the Catholic Church in China…’ Beijing fears that any surviving remnant of freedom in Hong Kong could spread to the Mainland, so it is gradually stripping the formerly autonomous territory of its liberties. Religious freedom can’t be tolerated lest Christian beliefs spread in China outside of state control. Cardinal Zen’s arrest echoes the persecution of Catholic bishops during the Mao Zedong era. Cardinal Ignatius Kung spent three decades in prison for his refusal to accept government control over the church. The Muslim Uyghurs of Xinjiang province are in concentration camps today. `The Holy See has learned with concern the news of the arrest of Cardinal Zen and is following the development of the situation with extreme attention,’ the Vatican said in a statement Wednesday. That weak response does no credit to the Catholic Church or Pope Francis, who should renounce the Vatican’s Faustian pact with Beijing… A regime that fears a 90-year-old priest must have profound doubts about its legitimacy.” Cardinal Zen and the Art of Chinese Oppression – WSJ
