Hong Kong allows outspoken Cardinal Joseph Zen to attend Pope’s funeral

Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Hong Kong‘s outspoken Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen was allowed to leave the southern Chinese city to attend Pope Francis’ funeral in Vatican City.

“Cardinal Zen, a 93-year-old retired bishop, left Hong Kong on Wednesday (April 23, 2025) night after applying at a court to get back his passport,” his secretary told The Associated Press in a text message on Thursday (April 24, 2025.)

Authorities confiscated his passport after his controversial arrest under a Beijing-imposed national security law in 2022.

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Cardinal Zen is among the critics in recent years who have said the Vatican’s agreement with Chinese authorities on the appointment of bishops betrays pro-Vatican Chinese Catholics.

He has also criticised Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, the official charged with negotiations with Beijing, as a “man of little faith.” Mr. Parolin is considered one of the main contenders to be the next Pope, given his prominence in the Catholic hierarchy.

On Tuesday (April 22, 2025), media reports said Cardinal Zen had issued a critique of the Vatican, questioning why pre-conclave meetings started as early as Tuesday (April 22, 2025). The AP could not independently verify the reports, but Cardinal Zen reposted the reporters’ posts about his statement on his X account.

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His secretary said Cardinal Zen would return to Hong Kong after the late Pope’s funeral, which is scheduled for Saturday (April 26, 2025). But she was unsure about his exact return date.

It was not the first time he had to go through the city’s court to leave Hong Kong. In 2023, he went through similar procedures to pay his respects to the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

Cardinal Zen was first arrested in 2022 on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces under the security law. His arrest sent shockwaves through the Catholic community at that time.

While Cardinal Zen has not yet faced national security-related charges, he and five others were fined in 2022 after being found guilty of failing to register a now-defunct fund that aimed to help people arrested in widespread 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. A hearing on his appeal against the conviction is scheduled for December.

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Separately, Hong Kong Cardinal Stephen Chow will travel to the Vatican for the conclave, the city’s Catholic Social Communications Office said on Thursday (April 24, 2025.)

In 2023, a Beijing bishop who was installed by China’s state-controlled Catholic church as an archbishop visited Hong Kong at the invitation of Cardinal Chow. It was the first-ever official visit by a Beijing bishop to the city.

Experts at that time said Cardinal Chow’s invitation was a symbolic gesture that could strengthen the fragile ties between China and the Vatican.

Beijing and the Vatican severed diplomatic ties following the Chinese Communist Party’s rise to power and the expulsion of foreign priests. Since the break in ties, Catholics in China have been divided between those who belong to an official, state-sanctioned church and those in an underground church loyal to the Pope.

The Vatican recognises members of both as Catholics but claims the exclusive right to choose bishops.