Cardinal Joseph Zen Calls Church Situation in China “Desperate”

“The situation is very bad. The problem is not the Pope, he does not know much about China, it is against Parolin that I am fighting, because he is doing bad things.” Joseph Zen, despite his 88 years, has lost none of his zeal for the defense of Catholics of the Middle Empire.

Visiting the American capital, at the invitation of several members of Congress, the Chinese cardinal took the opportunity to give an interview to the Catholic News Agency (CNA), on February 11, 2020.

So, “the Holy Father shows a special affection to me,” he insists, “but I’m fighting Parolin. Because the bad things come from him. From him.”  Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who manages the Chinese dossier, “is so, so, so optimistic about the so-called ‘Ostpolitik,’ the compromise. But you cannot compromise: [the Chinese Communist Party] wants complete surrender – that’s Communism.”

After meeting with members of Congress, one of them, Chris Smith, told CNA that he saw in the Chinese porporato “a new St. Paul, who is not only a saint and an effective witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but also a man very aware of what is really going on in Communist China.”

Contrary to what was announced during the agreement—whose terms are still kept secret today—between China and the Holy See, in September 2018, the persecution against Catholics has worsened over the past year and a half, as emphasized in a report from the United States Congress Commission on China.

“More and more, the Church is under persecution [in China]. Both the official Church, and the underground,” said Cardinal Zen, then he added, “Actually, the underground is doomed to disappear.” 

And the high prelate laments the many Chinese Catholics who come to Hong Kong to ask what he, the Bishop Emeritus can do for them: “I say ‘What can I do for you? I can do nothing. I have no voice in the Vatican, simply none.’”

“Humanly speaking, the situation is desperate for the Church in China,” Cardinal Joseph Zen gravely concludes. May this courageous testimony pierce the walls of the Vatican and be heard in the muffled enclosure of the apostolic palaces!