Pope Francis of the Vatican appointed Father Zhou Shouren of Hong Kong as the next bishop of the diocese of Hong Kong on Monday. Father Zhou Shouren's 2019 "Black Riot" holds an anti-Hong Kong independence and anti-violence stance.
The author believes that this appointment will cause a strong shock in Hong Kong's religious circles, so that people who originally followed Cardinal Chan Ri-jun, one of the "Gang of Four in Hong Kong", may "get lost and return". At the same time, this appointment will inevitably also deepen the doubts of the Tsai Ing-wen administration in Taiwan about the further close relations between the Vatican And the Holy See, which will eventually lead to a change in the relationship between Taiwan and the Holy See, losing the most important so-called "country with diplomatic relations.".
Bishop-designate Zhou Shouren, 62, was born in Hong Kong in 1959 and was promoted to the priesthood in Hong Kong in 1994, where he received his Doctorate in Education from Harvard University. He is currently the President of the Jesuit Province of China and the Superintendent of Huaren College. During the 2019 "black riot", Chow Shou-yan concluded in an interview that "Hong Kong independence" was a crime, requiring students to know the legal consequences. At the same time, he once wrote on social media, saying that it is acceptable to deal with differences in a peaceful way, but the violence that he least wants to see continues to escalate, and unfortunately, different people have chosen to solve the problem with violence, and responding to violence will only make violence continue to increase, hatred will deepen, and the original good "original intention" will become dark. After the Hong Kong National Security Law came into effect on 1 July last year, Chow sent letters to two of his affiliated Hua Yan Colleges, stressing that the school was not a political organization or a platform for political mobilization, reminding students to pay attention to the legal consequences of their actions under social and political disturbances.
Zhou Shouren's political stance is obviously different from that of Chen Rijun, the bishop of Hong Kong. In fact, at the instigation of Chen Rijun and other clergy who hold an anti-China and anti-communist stance, many Catholic-sponsored schools and churches in Hong Kong have played a disgraceful role, and some have directly provided places for the undercover rioters to hide and store materials.
Interestingly, The chaotic Hong Kong bishop Chen Rijun vigorously interfered in the appointment of the bishop of Hong Kong, but ate the "closed door soup", and the Italian media "Courier" published an article ridiculing him at the age of 88 and "slapped by the pope". Chan Ri-jun, along with Apple Daily boss Lai Chi-ying, former Chief Secretary for Administration Anson Chan, and Founding Chairman lee Chu-ming of the Democratic Party, called the "Gang of Four in Chaos in Hong Kong."
Italian media reported that on September 23 last year, Chen Rijun flew alone for more than ten hours and brought the same letter to the Vatican, hoping to express his concerns to the Pope about the arrangements for the succession of the Bishop of Hong Kong and the Vatican's intention to renew the agreement with China on the appointment of bishops. The white-haired man waited for four days, not only did he not see the Pope, he did not receive a reply call, he had to hand over the letter to the Pope's personal secretary, and returned to Hong Kong with disappointment four days later.
At that time, the Pope Francis also refused to receive U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo. It is reported that Pompeo also wants to intervene in the renewal of the agreement on the appointment of bishops in China and the Vatican.
At that time, Chen Rijun told Marco Tosatti, a senior reporter in the Vatican, that the diocese bishop's seat in Hong Kong had been vacant for more than a year and a half, and had initially suggested that the diocese auxiliary bishop Xia Zhicheng take over, "Now the diocese says that it needs a person who has been blessed by Beijing, and he believes that if such an appointment is finally appointed, it will be a "disaster of the century" and "terrible" for the Hong Kong church." Chen Rijun also pointed out that the Vatican's desire to renew the agreement on the appointment of bishops with Beijing is "crazy", believing that the Vatican should not go along with the "devil", but should confront the devil. In fact, Chen Rijun's suggestion that Xia Zhicheng be deeply involved in Hong Kong's "black riot" activities is naturally not acceptable to Beijing.
At the time, Zhang Jialin, a professor at the Department of Religious Culture and Information Management at Taiwan's Truth University, believed that the incident reflected the fact that the Pope attached great importance to the Chinese diocese, and that Chen Rijun, as a retired bishop, had limited influence. He estimated that the Diocese of Hong Kong would gradually "sinicize". Whether it is an acting bishop or a bishop, Beijing's influence will grow. The Vatican will eventually accept Beijing's candidate.
Xing Fuzeng, a professor at Hong Kong's Chung Kee Theological Seminary, said that from various indications, the Chinese side does not want hong Kong to have a bishop like "Chen Rijun".
At that time, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin pointed out that in the nearly two years since the signing of the interim agreement between China and the Vatican on the appointment of bishops, with the joint efforts of both sides, the agreement has been smoothly implemented, and the Cause of Catholicism in China has developed healthily. The two sides will continue to maintain close communication and consultation and continue to promote the process of improving relations.
The author believes that when Father Zhou Shouren, who opposes Hong Kong independence this time, has been appointed as the bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong, the relevant personages in Taiwan will inevitably contact and revisit this passage of Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, which has aroused rich imagination.