Asia News talks to Cardinal Zen:

The new year is a “crucial moment for the complicated situation facing the Church in China” however it does not look as if, “humanly speaking, there are any openings.” The speech of the pope to the diplomatic corps this morning is thus “a right appeal for religious freedom that the country still does not have but that should not be feared.”

This was the reaction, given to AsiaNews, of Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, bishop of Hong Kong, to the address of Benedict XVI to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See.

The pope said: “In most Asian countries, Christian communities tend to be small but lively, with a legitimate desire to be able to live and act in a climate of religious liberty. This is not only a primordial right but it is a condition that will enable them to contribute to the material and spiritual progress of society, and to be sources of cohesion and harmony.”

For Mgr Zen, the pontiff’s was a “desire that has been expressed for a long time, but when the pope says he hopes for more religious freedom, he underlines that this is not there yet. The hope is that all will truly understand that religious freedom is a good thing and a right that should not be feared. Undermining this right damages all society.”

This is especially true for China where “humanly it seems very difficult to emerge from the complicated situation that has been created between the official and unofficial Church and the Patriotic Association. Naturally, faith encourages us to hope. This is a crucial moment but conditions leading to a swift triumph of good are poor.”