The retired Catholic Archbishop of Hong Kong, Cardinal Joseph Zen, age 90, has been arrested for threatening national security. He was a board member of a nonnprofit legal defense fund, the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, to assist pro-democracy demonstrators in 2019. Also arrested were singer-actress Denise Ho, human rights lawyer Margaret Ng and scholar Hui Po-keung. Cardinal Zen has spoken out for years in favor of China’s underground churches, and is a fierce critic of the Vatican’s 2018 agreement to seek Chinese approval before episcopal appointments are announced. Above: waving placards saying “Respect Religious Freedom” outside the China Liaison office in 2012. (Kin Cheung/AP, 2012)
Daily Office Asia-Pacific 
