Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Inside the VaticanMay 19, 2022
Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, retired bishop of Hong Kong, arrives at West Kowloon Courts Oct. 15, 2020, to support pro-democracy activists who are facing charges related to an illegal vigil assembly commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. Cardinal Zen, a trustee of a relief fund paying protesters' legal bills, was detained by National Security Police May 11, 2022. (CNS photo/Tyrone Siu, Reuters)

On May 11, Cardinal Joseph Zen, the 90-year-old pro-democracy prelate of Hong Kong, along with three other advocates for democracy in China, were arrested and questioned on accusations that they were “colluding with foreign forces.”

[Listen and subscribe to Inside the Vatican on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.]

Cardinal Zen was released less than a day later. Following his arrest, the Vatican issued a statement in which it said it is “following the development of the situation very closely.”

On “Inside the Vatican” this week, veteran Vatican reporter Gerard O’Connell and host Colleen Dulle explore why this revered, outspoken defender of human rights and democracy in Hong Kong appears to pose such a grave threat to the Chinese government. The hosts also examine what Cardinal Zen’s arrest could mean for the Catholic church in China.

After that, Colleen and Gerry profile two saints who, like Cardinal Zen, spoke out in favor of justice and peace, and who paid with their lives.

Links from the show:

The latest from america

Pope Francis gives his Christmas blessing "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world) from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Dec. 25, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
Pope Francis prayed that the Jubilee Year may become “a season of hope” and reconciliation in a world at war and suffering humanitarian crises as he opened the Holy Door in St. Peter’s Basilica on Christmas Eve.
Gerard O’ConnellDecember 25, 2024
Pope Francis, after opening the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, gives his homily during the Christmas Mass at Night Dec. 24, 2024. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)
‘If God can visit us, even when our hearts seem like a lowly manger, we can truly say: Hope is not dead; hope is alive and it embraces our lives forever!’
Pope FrancisDecember 24, 2024
Inspired by his friend and mentor Henri Nouwen, Metropolitan Borys Gudziak, leader of Ukrainian Catholics in the U.S., invites listeners in his Christmas Eve homily to approach the manger with renewed awe and openness.
PreachDecember 23, 2024
A Homily for the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, by Father Terrance Klein
Terrance KleinDecember 23, 2024