Francis, Pope of the People

Pope Francis spoke up for the oppressed and poor

This morning I woke up to the news that Pope Francis had passed at the age of 88. We had just saw him less than 12 hours earlier in news footage in his Popemobile blessing a baby. But when he addressed the crowd at St Peter's Basilica to say "Dear brothers and sisters, Happy Easter", his voice was very weak...

He was discharged last month after 38 days in hospital battling pneumonia in both lungs. Doctors didn't think he would make it -- twice. They advised him to isolate himself and get rest for at least two months to avoid infection, but Francis wanted to be with the people, one last time.

And he will be forever remembered as a pope with humility who advocated for the oppressed, the poor, migrants, refugees, and the environment.

He made a landmark trip to Canada in 2022

Francis criticised the Trump administration's mass deportation policy. In a letter to American bishops, he wrote: "What is built on the basis of force, and not on the truth about the equal dignity of every human being, begins badly and will end badly."

In 2022 he came to Canada to right a wrong, apologising to the Indigenous people for how they were treated in residential schools. 

From the 1870s to the 1990s, some 150,000 First Nations, Metis, and Inuit children were taken away from their families and forced to attend church-run schools to get them to forget their language and culture. 

Many of the children were abused and neglected, thousands died of malnutrition, suicide and disease.

Pope Francis listened to the survivors and apologised, making him the first pope to do so, and asked for forgiveness.

Several times he has also called for a cease fire in Gaza, condemned the "deplorable humanitarian situation," and expressed his "closeness to the sufferings of Christians in Palestine and Israel and to all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people."

He called Gaza nightly to check on people there

Every night at around 8pm Francis would call Father Gabriel Romanelli to check on how the faithful were doing in the last standing Catholic church in Gaza. The pontiff would ask Romanelli how the residents were doing in the midst of war, if they had enough food and what they had eaten that day.

"It was a singular expression of his love, his concern. A real concern for the good of all and a sign of the good shepherd," Romanelli said. "People feel abandoned, but the call of the Pope gave a very hard sign of hope."

When the bombings were bad, Francis would call three or four times that day.

Giving people hope is what religion does, and Francis embued this as the leader of the Catholic church who was on the ground with the people.

Following his funeral this weekend, bishops will be gathering to decide on the next pope. There are hopes he will also be liberal and continue where Francis left off. Someone like him is needed more than ever in a world that has become more authoritarian.

Vatican Caught in Bind with Cardinal Zen

Zen holding mass at Holy Church Cross in eastern Hong Kong

Hours after retired Cardinal Joseph Zen appeared in court to answer to the charge of not registering the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund with the government, he held mass at the Holy Cross Church in Sai Wan Ho.

Many who came to see him dismissed the charge against him.

"We of course must respect the rule of law but wielding law as a weapon to oppress is by no means the goal of rule of law," a woman named Louise told AFP.

Zen along with four others pleaded not guilty

In his sermon, Zen again criticised a deal between China and the Vatican in 2018 which allows Beijing to nominate bishops for the pope's approval, calling it "unwise" despite being made with "good intentions".

The agreement was renewed in 2020 just as China was accused of suppressing Uyghurs in Xinjiang and Christian believers of underground churches.

At that time two years ago despite the pandemic, Zen traveled to Rome in the hopes of speaking to Pope Francis and persuade him not to renew the deal, but was not even granted an audience with the pope.

Vatican analyst and papal biographer Marco Politi says: "The Holy See does not want this thread of dialogue and communication [with China] to be broken. "It is clear that China is in a position of strength and the Vatican in a position of weakness."

After Zen's arrest on May 11, the Vatican has been relatively silent, and Pope Francis said he was "attentively" following the "often complex" life of Catholics in China without directly referencing Zen.

But up until this point, veteran Vatican commentator John L Allen said Zen had become "increasingly marginalised" in the Francis papacy.

Zen was rebuffed by Pope Francis in 2020

"Had China done nothing, Zen likely would have remained inconsequential," he wrote on the Catholic website Crux.com.

"Now, however, Francis can't afford to ignore Zen, because his arrest -- and whatever may come next in terms of a prosecution and even possible incarceration -- is destined to generate sympathy and activism on Zen's behalf all across the world."

Pope Francis may have wished he had granted Zen an audience, but it's too late now.

Either way he cannot ignore the seriousness of the situation Zen is in and pray that the rule of law will have mercy on him...