HONG KONG (AsiaNews): Alex Chow Yong-kang, who was given a prison sentence on August 17 for his part in the civil disobedience movement of 2014, dubbed the Umbrella Movement, has thanked the former bishop of Hong Kong, Joseph Cardinal Zen Ze-kiun, for visiting him in prison.
 
Released on bail on November 7, Chow posted a letter to his two compatriots, Joshua Wang Chi-fung and Nathan Law Kwun-chung, who are also out on bail pending an appeal against their prison sentences that is scheduled to be heard in January next year.
 

HONG KONG (AsiaNews): Pointing to the need to bring the Holy See back from the brink of selling out the Catholic people of China to the government in Beijing, the former bishop of Hong Kong, Joseph Cardinal Zen Ze-kiun, said that the plight of people like 41-year-old Father Wei Heping, who died mysteriously two years ago in Shanxi, must be kept squarely in our consciousness.
 

HONG KONG (SE): Joseph Cardinal Zen Ze-kiun urged people to uphold the core values of Hong Kong and talk the truth based on Church traditions during an open talk marking the feast day of St. Thomas Aquinas, the patron saint of students and all universities.

The function was organised by the Caritas Institute of Higher Education and the chaplaincy of the Caritas Bianchi College of Careers on March 7.

HONG KONG (SE): Human Rights Watch has waded into the discussion over the on-going negotiations between the Vatican and Beijing, cautioning the Vatican not to make any agreement before it sees convincing evidence of religious freedom across the Middle Kingdom.

HONG KONG (SE): A lengthy reflection published under the name of the bishop of Hong Kong, John Cardinal Tong Hon, on the ongoing negotiations between the Chinese government and representatives of the Vatican, has sparked a wide variety of responses, particularly from inside China.

Published in English in the Sunday Examiner and Chinese in the Kung Kao Po on August 7, the letter has elicited comments describing it as over-optimistic, balanced and inspiring, and plain unrealistic.

HONG KONG (UCAN): Catholic charity groups in Hong Kong are really stretching themselves in the hope of raising social awareness about the plight of the many poor people in their sunset years who are living alone in the city.

They also aim to raise funds to finance programmes for their support by getting the world’s longest raisin loaf into the Guinness World Book of Records.