(OSV News) — A court in Hong Kong rejected appeals brought by Cardinal Joseph Zen and four other defendants who were convicted in 2022 for failing to register a now-defunct fund to help anti-government protesters.
The 94-year-old cardinal and four others — Denise Ho, Hui Po-keung, Margaret Ng and Cyd Ho — were charged in 2022 with failing to properly register the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, set up to provide financial assistance to those involved in the 2019 anti-government protests against a proposed national security law. The fund was disbanded in 2021 after coming under scrutiny by authorities.
All five were found guilty of breaching the law known as Societies Ordinance in November 2022 and fined 4,000 Hong Kong dollars ($512) each.
Under the ordinance, any local group or association of 10 or more people must apply for formal registration or a statutory exemption from the police within one month of its formation.
Fund subject to registration requirement
According to a report by UCA News on Sept. 3, the chief judge presiding over the appeal hearing upheld the conviction, noting that the funds managed by Cardinal Zen and the four defendants would make it a society subject to the ordinance’s registration requirement.
“We find that the appellants had all along intended to use the Fund as a vehicle to appeal for, collect and apply public donations for the purpose of supporting” the 2019 protesters, the judge wrote, according to UCA News.
After their appeal was rejected, all five defendants said they would take their case to the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.
Known for his criticism of the Chinese government, Cardinal Zen has also criticized the Vatican’s controversial deal with China over the appointment of bishops.
Longtime critic of Vatican-China agreement on Church
The cardinal had expressed concerns that the deal would be detrimental to the Chinese underground Church, whose leaders refuse to register with the state-run Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.
In a 2018 Facebook post, Cardinal Zen declared his opposition to the deal, saying he believed the Vatican was “selling out the Catholic Church in China.”
“Am I the major obstacle in the process of reaching a deal between the Vatican and China? If that is a bad deal, I would be more than happy to be the obstacle,” he wrote.
Pope Leo XIV met Cardinal Zen on Jan. 7 when the cardinal was granted permission from the judicial authorities in Hong Kong to attend the first extraordinary consistory under Pope Leo’s pontificate.
Junno Arocho Esteves is an international correspondent for OSV News. Follow him on X @jae_journalist.
