Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, who served as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith from 2012 to 2017, said recently that the August 28-30 consistory of cardinals, from which Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong was absent, “would have been an opportunity to declare full solidarity” with him.

“In this case, I wonder why not criticize Beijing,” the prelate said. “Zen is a symbol [of defiance] and he was arrested on a pretext, he did nothing. He is authoritative, courageous, and much feared by the [Chinese] government. He is 90 years old, and we left him alone.”