Just when Cardinal Zen needed the Pope, there was silence, with the Pontiff shamed by German bishop

The trial of Cardinal Joseph Zen – a long-standing critic of the Vatican’s accommodation with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) – will begin on September 19, following his arrest under China’s national security law. Zen – made a cardinal by Benedict XVI in 2006 – and four others, face charges of failing to properly register a now-defunct fund to help anti-government protesters in Hong Kong. As Ed Condon argued in Pillar Catholic: “According to senior Catholics on the ground, it is widely believed that the authorities will charge that many of the 621 Fund’s donations come outside Hong Kong, and can be tied to non-state actors linked to the U.S. government.” This could see Zen convicted as a foreign agent, while he may also be used a bargaining chip by the CCP.

Zen and the other defendants have pleaded not guilty. Their defence is expected to cite a right to associate under Hong Kong’s Basic Law. Zen, meanwhile, has been one of the sharpest critics of the Vatican’s deal with the CCP. Through the agreement, the Vatican agreed to cooperate in the selection of bishops of a united Catholic Church in China. The objective was a merger of the Underground Catholic Church into the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association (CPCA). While the Vatican had the final say on appointments, it could only select from CCP-approved candidates. The result has been ongoing persecution of Chinese Catholics, such as Bishop Augustine Cui Tai, who has been in jail on and off since 2007.

It seems unlikely that Zen’s arrest and trial are coincidental to the looming renewal of the deal which effectively turns CPCA clergy into apostates. Worst of all, the CCP has actually reneged on the deal. According to Nina Shea, writing in National Review, “China thoroughly negated” it, “in a dry public posting by the state bureaucracy”, with Order No. 15 making “no provision for any papal role in the process” of selecting bishops, without “even a papal right to approve or veto episcopal appointments in China”.

Cardinal Zen has said he thinks Cardinal Pietro Parolin – key to the deal – is “manipulating” the Pope and may be acting out of “vainglory”, according to an interview with New Bloom Magazine. Zen’s trial also comes as Pope Francis – who made somewhat controversial comments about China on his return from Kazakhstan – allegedly sought a meeting with CCP leader Xi Jinping, but was rebuffed. The Pope had said he was willing to go to China. On the way back to Rome, he also spoke of “the path of dialogue” with Beijing, adding “the Chinese mentality” ought to “be respected”. 

The Pope argued “there is a dialogue commission that is going well” and Cardinal Parolin “is the person right now who knows the most about China and dialogue with the Chinese.” The Pope even said he does “not identify with” designating China as undemocratic. Touching on Zen’s trial, the Pope claimed “he says what he feels, and you can see that there are limitations”. Parolin later said he was “very saddened” by Cardinal Zen’s arrest, but that it should not be read as “a disavowal” of the deal.

Prior to his resignation, Pope Benedict XVI had terminated negotiations with China, likely due to poor conditions on offer. According to Cardinal Zen, “Pope Francis does not know the real Communist Party in China, but Parolin should know.” Zen had told Pope Francis: “that he [Parolin] has a poisoned mind. He is very sweet, but I have no trust in this person. He believes in diplomacy, not in our faith.” As the Catholic Herald reported in 2020, Zen continued to criticise Parolin’s claims about China, accusing him of “telling a series of lies”. 

The Pope has been shamed by other critics as well. As UCA News reported, German Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller expressed dismay over the Vatican’s silence on China’s abuses and Zen’s imminent “unfair” trial. Müller – a former prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith – made the remarks in an interview with Il Messengero newspaper. During a recent consistory, the German prelate said no senior Vatican official or even the Pope mentioned Zen, with “no solidarity document, no prayer initiative for him”. 

Müller believes the CCP deal undermines the possibility of support for Zen, warning the deal “does not serve the interests of the Holy See and the Vatican State to the ecclesial dimension and the truth”. Cardinal Müller said the Church should be less bound to worldly logic of power, more able to intervene and, if necessary, criticise politicians who undermine human rights: “why not criticize Beijing”, he blasted, warning that – when needed – the Church should “criticise the powerful of this world”.

Today, it is the words, or lack of words, of Pope Francis which will hurt the most. He had the chance to speak up for Zen yet failed to do so. Instead, it falls to clerics like Cardinal Müller to say what the Pope should have said. At a minimum, conditions ought to be attached to any renewal of the deal such as release of all clergy, such as Zen, if not repudiate the deal entirely. Instead, it looks as if the deal will go ahead without any conditions. The CCP will get what it wants, while Zen must face the music. Pope Francis had an opportunity to chastise the CCP, defend Zen, and attach conditions to the deal. Instead, this Faustian Pact continues while the Pope kowtows to Beijing.

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