Despite finally meeting with him in Rome a few weeks ago, Cardinal Joseph Zen has spoken out against Pope Francis’s controversial crackdown on the Traditional Latin Mass.
In a new interview, he discussed Francis’s potential retirement and said that the controversial document Tradtiones Custodes was full of generalisations and that it it hurt many faithful Catholics.
Firstly, he spoke of his meeting with Pope Francis in Rome, describing it as ‘warm’:
It was a wonderful meeting, very warm. I thanked the Pope for the good bishop appointed to Hong Kong in 2021. He replied: 'I know well, he is a Jesuit!' I then recounted my pastoral experience in Hong Kong prisons. In these 10 years I have baptized several prisoners. Francis said he was very happy for my ministry
He also spoke about Ganswein’s book which revealed Pope Benedict XVI’s negative opinion of the recent suppressions, saying that the late pontiff had been ‘humiliated’:
I haven't read the book yet, but I think it will be interesting. I agree with Archbishop Gaenswein on the subject of the Latin Mass. Tendentious generalizations in Francis' Traditionis custodes have wounded the hearts of many people. Reading the motu proprio and the Pope's letter to the bishops, one notices an 'ease' and a 'tendentiousness' in linking the desire to use the extraordinary form of the Mass with a negative judgment on the ordinary form of the Mass, or a tendency to link the refusal to accept the liturgical reform with a total and profound rejection of the Second Vatican Council. Can't the anti-Ratzingers of the Vatican wait patiently for the Tridentine Mass to die along with the death of Benedict XVI, instead of humiliating him in this way?
Zen also warned that the Synod risks being led by the spirit of the times:
I fear that the Synod repeats the same mistake of the Dutch Church of 50 years ago, when the bishops backed down and accepted that the faithful should lead the Church; Then their number decreased. Let us pray that our Pope may have greater wisdom
On the question of a potential Francis resignation, he said:
I think so, if the Pope has serious health problems he should consider resigning. Benedict XVI offered an excellent example
On the subject of Catholics in China, he said:
It is a difficult situation, we must never forget to pray in these hard times. Many of the faithful bear witness to their faith with conscience, but we know that when the situation becomes difficult, some think only of their own interests. Let us continue to uphold truth, justice and charity. Darkness will not win over light.
You can read the full interview with Il Giornale here.
