Pope Francis recorded two video messages of encouragement, on an iPhone, to the church and Catholics in mainland China and Hong Kong, respectively. The pope recorded the messages in the spur-of-the-moment when he received the new bishop of Hong Kong, Bishop Stephen Chow Sau Yan, S.J., in a private audience at the papal library in the Vatican’s apostolic palace on the morning of March 17.
On March 22, Catholic Way, an online platform run by the Diocese of Hong Kong, posted the pope’s homemade video messages online, with subtitles in English and Chinese, because Pope Francis spoke in Italian.
Bishop Chow visited the pope as Covid-19 infections had spiked alarmingly in Hong Kong, and the pandemic was reemerging in China. Pope Francis acknowledged this in his video message to the church in Hong Kong:
To you, brothers and sisters of Hong Kong, I give you my greetings! I am here with your bishop. I send you my blessing; I wish you all the best. I wish you to be good citizens; that you be courageous in the face of the challenges of time!
Above all, I am thinking of many of you who have suffered from the Covid pandemic. I am close to you! This pandemic has killed so many people all over the world and also in your city, I am close to you! I will pray for you, and you, please pray for me!
The pope concluded his greeting with a blessing and encouraged Catholics in Hong Kong to “continue to go forward with the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and his holy mother, Our Lady.” Finally, with a friendly smile and wave of the hand, the pope added, “Pray for me. Bye bye!”
Bishop Chow shared with America, in an exclusive exchange by email, more context about the audience, video messages and strong encouragement he received from the pope.
“It was a private audience, and lasted around half an hour,” Bishop Chow said. “There were only three persons present,” he added, before explaining that the only other person in the room, he said, was “a monsignor who served as translator because Francis could understand my English, but he needed the translator to translate his words into English for me.”
“He asked me at the start of our meeting ‘What is the most difficult thing that can happen to a Jesuit?’ ‘It’s to become a bishop!’ And, he said, ‘I know that.’”
“It was a very pleasant encounter for the two of us. It felt like meeting another Jesuit brother,” Bishop Chow said. “He asked me at the start of our meeting ‘What is the most difficult thing that can happen to a Jesuit?’ ‘It’s to become a bishop!’ And, he said, ‘I know that.’”
Bishop Chow said the pope thanked him at the meeting for accepting his nomination to appoint him a bishop. “He pointed out to me that I would face many challenges and difficulties,” the bishop said. “But not to be afraid.”
It was during that audience that Bishop Chow made a request to the pope. “I asked him if you would mind sending his greetings and some encouragement to the Catholics in the mainland and in Hong Kong under the stress of Covid,” the bishop said. “The Holy Father accepted immediately, and I used my iPhone to make the two videos.”
“Pope Francis was very obliging and willing to make the two videos,” Bishop Chow revealed. “It was clear to me that he really wanted to communicate his care and encouragement to them as their Papa, especially under this very challenging time of the Covid pandemic.”
“It was clear to me that he really wanted to communicate his care and encouragement to them as their Papa, especially under this very challenging time of the Covid pandemic.”
When asked why there was a need for two videos Bishop Chow replied: “Well, they are for different audiences and under somewhat different circumstances. As far as I know, if I am not mistaken, Francis has not addressed the Catholics in either place directly.”
The political situation in Hong Kong has been tense, especially since the imposition of the national security law on July 1, 2020, the subsequent repression of democracy and many civil liberties—despite largely peaceful protests—and the arrest of prominent advocates of democracy, including several Catholics. Catholics in mainland China have also suffered many trials in recent years, and many endure them still today. But Bishop Chow told America that both he and the pope mutually agreed that the videos “would not be something political but greetings for their suffering under Covid and words of encouragement.”
In the second message, Pope Francis addressed the more than 10 million Catholics in mainland China “at the time of pandemic”:
Dear brothers and sisters, you Catholics, I greet you with gratitude and love. Thank you for your testimony of faith. Thanks for the love of the Lord Jesus Christ and the holy mother of God, Our Lady.
Then, referring to the pandemic and the work the church is doing to help those suffering from it, the pope added, “Thank you for your work; for bearing so much with this Covid pandemic that makes us suffer a lot.”
“We go forward with the Lord,” the pope said. “Sometimes the Lord is hidden from our sight, but he is always beside us. It takes patience to hope,” he added, in words that convey a deeper message of faith.
But before giving his blessing, he assured them: “I am close to you; I love you so much! I pray for you. And you, please pray for me!”
Bishop Chow was received by Pope Francis after visiting Vatican offices and meeting senior officials of the Roman Curia in the previous days during his brief stay in the city.
The bishop recalled the pope “asked me a few times to pray for him,” he said. “Not out of courtesy but with a sense of need and sincerity.”
When he was ordained as the new bishop of Hong Kong on Dec. 4, he told the congregation of more than 500 faithful in the cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (that included two of his predecessors—Cardinals Joseph Zen S.D.B., and John Tong—as well as the auxiliary bishop, Joseph Ha Chi-shing, O.F.M), “It is my desire to be a bridge between the government and the church in Hong Kong and between the Catholic Church, fellow Christian denominations and other religions.”
Hong Kong, a metropolitan area and special administrative region of China, is about 110 times smaller than New York but is one of the most densely populated places in the world. It has a population of 7.5 million people. Bishop Chow is now the leader of a diocese of some 626,000 Catholics served by 71 diocesan priests and 214 other resident priests who are members of religious orders. These priests minister in 52 parishes and 100 churches or Mass stations, and 253 educational institutes. There are also 336 members of men’s religious institutes and 441 members of women’s religious institutes, according to the 2021 Vatican yearbook.
The bishop recalled the pope “asked me a few times to pray for him,” he said. “Not out of courtesy but with a sense of need and sincerity.”
Bishop Chow added another detail in his exchange with America. “I invited him to Hong Kong and China,” the bishop revealed. “But God knows if this would happen.”
But one thing will be etched into Bishop Chow from his audience with Pope Francis. “I will always remember his face and the expression of his eyes when he saw me out,” he said. “It was very personal, like a father and a brother seeing me off with his blessings and entrustment. I was moved deep down.”
