Top US lawmaker backs religious freedom in China
Originally published by AFP,07 Apr 2011
WASHINGTON — US House Speaker John Boehner pledged his “unequivocal” support for religious freedom in China after meeting Wednesday with Cardinal Joseph Zen, the former leader of Hong Kong’s Catholic Church.
Boehner, the third-ranking US elected official, said in a statement he had assured Zen “he has my unequivocal support for his work on behalf of the Church in support of religious liberty for all people.”
“As it was in Poland under Pope John Paul II during the peak of the Cold War, the Church today is a beacon of hope for positive change and freedom in China,” said Boehner, a Republican.
The US lawmaker said he shared Zen’s concern “that the Chinese government is, through methods both direct and indirect, pressuring Catholic bishops in China to defy Pope Benedict and follow the whims of the communist state.”
“Religious liberty is a fundamental human right, and when government encroaches upon the rights of its people, the United States cannot and must not be silent,” Boehner said in a statement released by his office.
Boehner was one of the senior US lawmakers who met with Chinese President Hu Jintao at the US Capitol in late January, and emerged saying he had pressed the visiting leader on several issues including religious freedoms.
The Shanghai-born cardinal officially retired as a bishop of Hong Kong in mid-April 2009, after serving for 12 years during which he sharply criticized Beijing even as the Vatican sought to improve diplomatic ties with China.
The Holy See — the central government of the Church — has long been at odds with the mainland over who controls the booming Catholic Church in the world’s most populous nation.
The Vatican wants all Chinese Catholics — currently divided between an “official” Church sanctioned by Beijing and an underground one loyal to the Vatican — to be brought under papal authority, a move that Beijing strongly resists.