Cardinal Joseph Zen went to trial on September 26 in Hong Kong on prices of supporting pro-democracy actions. He and different trustees of the now-defunct 612 Humanitarian Aid Fund had been arrested in Might for “colluding with international forces” beneath China’s controversial Nationwide Safety Legislation. Authorities later modified the cost to failing to register the fund with the federal government. Zen and the others pleaded not responsible. Zen, age 90, is the retired bishop of Hong Kong.

Drafted in 2019, Hong Kong’s Nationwide Safety Legislation would have allowed extradition of these convicted of sure crimes to mainland China. This is able to have included journalists. The invoice was by no means handed, so Beijing handed its personal Nationwide Safety Legislation in 2020. This regulation permits the federal government to arbitrarily assault Hong Kongers deemed responsible of “terrorism,” “secession,” “subversion” or “international interference.”

If convicted, Zen and his allies face a superb of as much as 10,000 Hong Kong {dollars} (roughly us$1,274). Though a quite minor superb, the proof getting used towards Zen could be extra acceptable for “international interference” prices quite than failing to register with the federal government. Prosecutors claimed the fund sponsored anti-Chinese language lobbying amongst scholar teams in Europe and an anti-China group in Taiwan. Some suspect that, if discovered responsible, Hong Kong authorities would use the conviction as ammunition for later prices beneath the Nationwide Safety Legislation.

Predictably, the Vatican is outraged. At mass the next Sunday, Pope Francis lambasted the Chinese language Communist Celebration for what occurred. He stated negotiations for normalizing relations with Beijing had been over. “We won’t stand by whereas China’s political video games intervene with Catholics’ proper to worship,” Francis stated. “The Chinese language authorities has confirmed a scarcity of fine religion and we can’t proceed this fruitless dialogue.”

This was the anticipated response from the pope—however the above paragraph is fiction. As a substitute, there’s barely been a peep of help for Zen from the Vatican.

In mid-September, Francis held a press convention aboard the papal airplane whereas flying again from a convention in Kazakhstan. A reporter requested the pope if Zen’s state of affairs was a violation of non secular freedom. Francis refused to reply instantly. “To know China takes a century, and we don’t stay for a century,” he stated. “The Chinese language mentality is a wealthy mentality, and when it turns into slightly sick, it loses its richness; it’s able to making errors.” To know China higher, Francis stated, “we’ve chosen the trail of dialogue.” He stated he did “not determine” with calling China “undemocratic.”

Francis even tacitly blamed Zen himself for his predicament. “[Zen] says what he feels,” Francis stated, “and you may see that there are limitations there.”

Catholicism is authorized in Hong Kong, as a former British colony and autonomous metropolis. However it’s unlawful in mainland China. There are two Catholic Church buildings in China: a Patriotic Catholic Affiliation managed by the federal government, and a persecuted, underground church loyal to the Vatican. The Vatican additionally has diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which is anathema to Beijing. The Catholic Church’s presence in Hong Kong is its largest sanctioned presence in China.

Nonetheless, beneath a shadowy settlement in 2018—the complete particulars of which haven’t been launched—the Vatican and Beijing got here to some kind of preliminary settlement. The Vatican would acknowledge the Chinese language Communist Celebration’s proper to nominate Catholic bishops. In flip, Beijing would give the pope a veto over its decisions. This successfully legitimizes the ccp’s management over the interior affairs of the Catholic Church. The deal was renewed for one more two years in 2020. It’s up for renewal once more this month.

Cardinal Zen was among the many most vocal opponents of the deal, saying it was a betrayal of Chinese language Catholics. Zen advised the Guardian in 2016:

Possibly the pope is slightly naive; he doesn’t have the background to know the Communists in China. … You can not go into negotiations with the mentality “we need to signal an settlement at any price,” then you might be surrendering your self, you might be betraying your self, you might be betraying Jesus Christ. In the event you can’t get a very good deal, a suitable deal, then the Vatican ought to stroll away and perhaps strive once more later. May the church negotiate with Hitler? May it negotiate with Stalin? No.

Evaluating the actions of the pope, the purported “vicar of Christ,” as a “betrayal of Jesus Christ” is fairly robust. Zen may as nicely have claimed the pope was making a take care of the satan. Zen has been talking up towards the 2018 deal for years now; and the Vatican has snubbed him all these years. Now he’s going through trial, and the pope blames Zen for his predicament. Remember the fact that Zen is a cardinal—a “prince of the church.” If he had been youthful, he would have the authority to elect the following pope. He has a prestigious place within the Catholic hierarchy. China arresting Zen could be the equal of arresting a former United States cupboard member—with Washington pretending to not discover.

Zen’s comparisons with Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin are noteworthy. Each had been totalitarian, genocidal madmen. China proper now could be committing genocide towards the Uyghur folks in Xinjiang province. As an increasing number of particulars come out, it turns into clearer that the scope and brutality of the Uyghur genocide is similar to the crimes of Hitler and Stalin. But the Catholic Church nonetheless sees Chinese language Normal Secretary Xi Jinping as somebody to make a take care of.

And the Vatican is raring to make even greater offers with China. In a September 14 interview with the Italian every day Il Messaggero, Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin was requested if the church was prepared to maneuver its Hong Kong workplace to Beijing. This is able to imply opening up a de facto embassy within the Chinese language capital. Parolin stated: “I don’t suppose it’s a brand new concept; we’ve all the time made it current. We’re ready for a sign from Beijing, nevertheless it has not but arrived.” So just a few days earlier than Zen’s trial commenced, some of the highly effective males within the Vatican was speaking about closing the workplace Zen was part of.

Earlier than his trial started, Zen advised Catholic journal Mondo e Missione that he had “misplaced all of the battles.” Maybe Zen was referring to extra than simply his battles with the Hong Kong courts. Both method, it looks as if the Vatican is keen to sacrifice considered one of its personal if it means staying on Xi’s good aspect.

A prophecy in Revelation 17 contains a “lady” (verse 3), biblical image of a church (see 2 Corinthians 11:1-3 and Ephesians 5:22-32). This lady rides a “beast,” a logo for an empire (see Daniel 7). This lady presides over “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” (Revelation 17:15). She is lavishly rich, “arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and valuable stones and pearls” (verse 4). She represents a “nice metropolis” (verse 18) located on “seven hills” (verse 9; Moffatt translation).

The Trumpet identifies this lady because the Roman Catholic Church.

The “beast” in Revelation 17 is not the Individuals’s Republic of China. Different prophecies present it to be a robust European empire within the custom of historic Rome. Historical past reveals this “Holy” Roman Empire to be the Vatican’s favourite steed to mount. However it isn’t the one one. Verse 2 talks in regards to the “kings”—plural—“of the earth” doing enterprise together with her. Revelation 18 once more refers to her partaking in offers with “the kings of the earth” and “the retailers of the earth” (verses 9, 11). One specific commerce she engages in is that of “our bodies and souls of males” (verse 13; Younger’s Literal Translation).

It seems to be just like the Vatican put Cardinal Zen—and hundreds of thousands of Chinese language Catholics—up on the market to “the kings of the Earth.”

“The Roman Catholic Church is essentially the most recognizable and illustrious faith on Earth,” theTrumpet.com managing editor Brad Macdonald writes in his guide The Holy Roman Empire in Prophecy. “Worldwide, it has greater than 1.2 billion followers, roughly 400,000 monks and a few 221,000 parishes. Catholicism has a presence on each continent and in each nation. Tens of hundreds of thousands of Catholics dutifully attend companies every week. Around the globe, Catholic monks and authorities are invited to contribute to conversations, private and non-private, on faith, politics, tradition, morality and just about each different topic.

“But regardless of its world ubiquity, colossal fame, materials splendor and lengthy historical past, the Catholic Church is an enigma. Even to lifelong Catholics. … The Catholic faith is essentially the most well-known Christian faith on Earth, but it’s shrouded in thriller.”

The church’s “take care of the satan” in Beijing provides to the thriller. No different church on Earth mingles itself with worldwide politics as a lot because the Catholic Church. Few world leaders may make offers with dictators and on the similar time seem as a messenger of sunshine to Western media. The pope is considered one of them.

Understanding the Vatican is even tougher than understanding China. But the Holy Bible—the guide the Catholic Church claims as its personal—removes the thriller. The identify of the guide of Revelation implies a revealing, an illumination of an in any other case darkish and murky topic. And the Catholic Church options closely in Revelation. To start to grasp the Vatican, one should first start to grasp the guide the church claims to comply with.

The Holy Roman Empire in Prophecy is an efficient useful resource to have on this regard. It helps put collectively the related scriptures with Catholic historical past. By learning each biblical and secular historical past, one can higher perceive the Vatican’s present path. Request your free copy as we speak.