The trial against Cardinal Joseph Zen resumed this Monday in Hong Kong, reminding the world that one of the bravest pastors of the Church in Asia remains under pressure from the communist regime. Zen, 93 years old, was arrested on May 11 under the accusation of “collusion with foreign forces” for his role in the 612 Humanitarian Fund, created in 2019 to help injured or imprisoned protesters during the pro-democracy protests.
Although the prosecution dropped the charges against him under the National Security Law, it keeps him indicted for an alleged administrative breach: failing to properly register said fund, which ceased its activities in 2021. The hearing, which took place last Monday, September 26, and is awaiting a resolution. The sentence could conclude with a fine of up to 10,000 Hong Kong dollars. The severity is not in the fine, but in the message: any initiative that bothers Beijing can be pursued with the judicial apparatus.
A persecution that unsettles the Church
The Zen case is not a mere legal formality. It represents another chapter in the Chinese government’s offensive against religious freedom and the autonomy of the Church. In Hong Kong, once a refuge of freedoms, a legislation designed to silence dissent and gag those who dare to question power is now applied with zeal.
Pastors who do not remain silent
According to reports from Religión en Libertad, the resumption of the trial has prompted new expressions of solidarity from bishops and cardinals around the world. Cardinal Fernando Filoni, emeritus prefect of Propaganda Fide, described Zen as “a devoted son of the Church” and warned that he should not be convicted. In the same vein, Cardinal Charles Bo, Archbishop of Yangon and president of the FABC, recalled that helping the accused cover their defense costs is a basic right in any justice system, and denounced the absurdity of criminalizing charity.
From the United States, Bishop Thomas Tobin asked to pray for Zen and for the Chinese Church, “attacked and restricted regularly by the government,” while Bishop Joseph Strickland praised the prelate’s struggle against communism. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco entrusted Zen to the Virgin Mary under the invocation of “Our Lady Undoer of Knots,” imploring that justice be done and that he receive consolation. Also, the auxiliary bishop of Astana, Athanasius Schneider, called him “a loyal son of the Church” and asked Mary Help of Christians to sustain him in this difficult hour.
Harsher in his criticism was Cardinal Gerhard Müller, emeritus prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who lamented that many cardinals have “left Zen alone.” “He was arrested on a pretext, he did nothing. He is an influential, brave figure feared by the government. He is over 80 years old and we have abandoned him,” he denounced.
A symbol for the Church in China
Although the final sentence may be limited to a fine, what is at stake is much more. Cardinal Zen has become a symbol of Catholic resistance to Chinese authoritarianism, and his trial exposes the regime’s strategy: to intimidate those who, from faith, defend justice and human dignity. The process against him is also a warning to the Church: silence may avoid immediate problems, but at the price of accepting submission to political power.
Zen, elderly but firm, continues to embody the witness of a pastor willing to stand up for his people. While Hong Kong’s courts prolong his case, bishops and cardinals from around the world remind us that he is not alone, and that the freedom of the Church in China is an issue that affects all of Christendom.