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Saying nothing once about a major human rights crisis in a particular country could be excused, perhaps due to lack of information. You could excuse yourself for not saying anything twice about the same human rights crisis, perhaps given that the world faces many problems and challenges. But ignoring one of the greatest human tragedies of our time and at the same time verifying the name of almost every other crisis in the world suggests a persistent, deliberate, and therefore absolutely shameful decision to remain silent for political reasons. .
Yet that is what Pope Francis did in his Urbi et Orbi speech on Christmas Day when he once again failed to mention the genocide of the Uyghurs, the persecution of Christians in China, the destruction of Hong Kong’s freedoms. , forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience, repression of all forms of civil society or free expression, atrocities in Tibet and other human rights violations perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party regime.
In many other ways, the Pope’s Christmas message was spot on, as you would expect from a pontiff who speaks so much about the poor, the marginalized, the oppressed.
He spoke of the importance of us recognizing each other as brothers and sisters, particularly given the challenges of the world and especially with the ecological crisis and the coronavirus pandemic. He spoke of the need for fraternity beyond our specific identity, taking care of our fellow men from other religions, ethnicities or nations. With those sentiments, I agree wholeheartedly and passionately, and that is why I love this Pope. Those words are music to my heart as someone who has long championed freedom of religion or belief for everyone, everywhere, all religions and none.
He spoke of “the light of Christ” that is coming “for everyone, not just for some.” He spoke humbly for humanity, and again, this is why I love him and he inspires me. “All other people are my brother or my sister,” he said. “In everyone, I see the face of God reflected, and in those who suffer, I see the Lord begging for my help. I see it in the sick, the poor, the unemployed, the marginalized, the migrant and the refugee: all brothers and sisters ”. Beautiful.
Catholicism in 21st century China
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Pope Francis then took us on a world tour, naming Syria, Iraq and Yemen, Libya, Israel and Palestine, Lebanon, the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, Burkino Faso, Mali, Niger, Ethiopia, Mozambique, South Sudan, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chile, Venezuela, the Philippines and Vietnam.
I am very glad that you mentioned all these countries. In fact, my human rights activism was born in Nagorno-Karabakh, which I visited just as the last ceasefire was signed 26 years ago, so I fully support your plea for peace in that ancient Christian homeland. I stayed up at night in a bombed hotel in Stepanakert when I was a young student listening to snipers on the front line and praying for a better world, so I am with Pope Francis in the search for peace in the Caucasus.
I am especially pleased that he has prayed for the Yazidis – in his words “sorely tested by these last years of war” – and the Rohingya, with whom I have worked for almost 15 years, for whom he prayed: give them hope in the midst of their suffering. “The atrocities the Rohingya have faced, some of which I have been able to glimpse firsthand, are among man’s worst inhumanities to man, a genocide in full swing, and Constant support from the Pope is welcome.
However, the mention of Yazidis and Rohingya, as welcome as it may be, makes the repeated omission of the Uighurs all the more apparent once again. Of the world’s genocides and mass atrocities, mentioning two and repeatedly refusing to mention the third suggests that there is an agenda underway.
Although Pope Francis mentioned the Uyghurs briefly, for the first time and in the mildest of slight passing references, in his new book Let’s dream: the way to a better future, hasn’t said anything else since. And Beijing reacted furiously to even that modest comment. But is the pope seriously going to allow himself to be intimidated by Xi Jinping’s fury and censor references to some of the world’s gravest human tragedies just because they occur in China? Seriously?
The Vatican-China agreement has attracted a lot of comments, so I will not repeat it here. I am not a natural critic of Pope Francis. In fact, it’s because I love him that I’m so perplexed by his blind spot in China. And it is because of the dire human rights crisis in China that I simply cannot remain silent.
But the truth is that if the deal is going to be worth anything, it should result in two things: better protections for Catholics in China and a more honest dialogue between the Vatican and the Chinese regime. So far, it has achieved just the opposite. The repression of Catholics, along with any other faith, in China has intensified in recent years.
And the Chinese Communist Party seems to have installed censors in the inner sanctuary of the Pope that forbid him from saying anything about China or meeting with those, like the brave Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong, who would tell him the truth. The Chinese regime has bought the silence of Pope Francis and has silenced his soul. This is a scandal.
In stark contrast, the Jewish community has shown inspiring leadership. Earlier this year, the chairwoman of the British Jewish Board of Deputies, Marie van der Zyl, wrote to the Chinese ambassador in London, Liu Xiaoming, saying: “No one could … fail to notice the similarities between what is supposedly happening in the People’s Republic of China today and what happened in Nazi Germany 75 years ago: people forcibly loaded onto trains; religious men’s beards that are trimmed; sterilized women; and the grim specter of concentration camps. “
The former chief rabbi, the late Lord Sacks, similarly tweeted, while the Jewish news has twice published the Uyghur story on its front page, the only British newspaper to do so. The current chief rabbi, Ephraim Mirvis, spoke two weeks ago in a powerful article in which he said it was “impossible” for him to remain silent.
In that context, that the Pope’s speech in Urbi et Orbi omits any mention of the Uyghur genocide, let alone Hong Kong in the year its freedoms were dismantled with astonishing speed, puts a pontiff who was elected just 10 days earlier to shame. that I. received into the Catholic Church, and a pontiff whom I admire in all other respects.
Mind you, the Archbishop of Canterbury is even worse. Unlike Pope Francis, he has not even mentioned Uighurs, much less Christians in China. And he doesn’t even have a deal, or a herd, in China to defend. I will let my Anglican friends explain Archbishop Justin Welby’s betrayal of the Chinese Communist Party.
A growing number of Catholic bishops and priests, notably Cardinal Charles Bo of Myanmar and Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo Hardjoatmodjo of Indonesia, who signed a letter of 75 religious leaders on the Uyghurs this year, and several Anglican bishops, including the archbishop’s predecessor Welby, Rowan Williams, they’re talking. outside.
Their voices must now resound in Rome and Canterbury and urge the world’s Christian leaders to do what they are supposed to do: speak truth to power, defend human dignity and freedom, and provide moral leadership – for God’s sake , literally.
Benedict Rogers is a human rights activist and writer. He is co-founder and CEO of Hong Kong Clock, Senior Analyst for East Asia at the International Human Rights Organization CSW, Co-Founder and Vice President of the UK Conservative Party Human Rights Commission, member of the advisory group of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) and member of the advisory group of the Stop Uyghur Genocide Campaign. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
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