{"id":10431,"date":"2015-08-14T07:36:19","date_gmt":"2015-08-14T07:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=10431"},"modified":"2015-08-14T07:36:19","modified_gmt":"2015-08-14T07:36:19","slug":"hong-kong-prelate-appeals-to-beijing-over-church-crosses-ucanews-com-reporter-hong-kong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/08\/14\/hong-kong-prelate-appeals-to-beijing-over-church-crosses-ucanews-com-reporter-hong-kong\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong prelate appeals to Beijing over church crosses  &#8211; \tucanews.com reporter, Hong Kong"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><p>August 13, 2015<\/p>\n<p>Cardinal John Tong Hon brands removal campaign in Zhejiang &#8216;illegal&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Cardinal John Tong Hon of Hong Kong has issued an \u201curgent appeal\u201d to Communist Party chiefs in Beijing, calling on them to order a halt to an ongoing cross-removal campaign in Zhejiang province.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI sincerely and urgently appealed to the central government to contact the Zhejiang provincial government and investigate the real situation and stop all illegal cross removals,\u201d the cardinal said in an Aug. 12 statement.<\/p>\n<p>The Chinese authorities should \u201creturn to the right path, placing supreme importance on the constitution, ruling the country according to the law, and governing by the law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The cardinal also called on Catholics in Hong Kong to pray and fast for religious dignity and freedom in order to share the sufferings of their persecuted brothers and sisters on the mainland.<\/p>\n<p>His appeal comes after Chinese authorities on Aug. 11 scotched rumours circulating among Christian leaders and on social media that the 20-month campaign, which has seen the removal of more than 1,200 crosses, would be halted.<\/p>\n<p>The appeal also comes less than a week after Hong Kong&#8217;s Anglican archbishop, Paul Kwong, called on Chinese authorities to halt cross removals in Zhejiang province, which is home to an estimated 2 million Christians, including 210,000 Catholics.<\/p>\n<p>Observers on social media have criticized Hong Kong&#8217;s Christian leaders, accusing them of dragging their feet in issuing responses to the cross removals.<\/p>\n<p>Soon after the Catholic diocesan weekly,\u00a0<em>Kung Kao Po<\/em>, posted Cardinal Tong&#8217;s statement on its Facebook page, blogger\u00a0Anthony Yuen\u00a0left a message saying the appeal was too slow in coming.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHasn&#8217;t the response come a bit late?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n<p>In response, Sister Pauline Yuen of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception said the cardinal&#8217;s statement was \u201cbetter late than never\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>August 13, 2015 Cardinal John Tong Hon brands removal campaign in Zhejiang &#8216;illegal&#8217; Cardinal John Tong Hon of Hong Kong has issued an \u201curgent appeal\u201d to Communist Party chiefs in Beijing, calling on them to order a halt to an ongoing cross-removal campaign in Zhejiang province. \u201cI sincerely and urgently appealed to the central government&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10453,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10431","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Hong Kong prelate appeals to Beijing over church crosses - ucanews.com reporter, Hong Kong - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/08\/14\/hong-kong-prelate-appeals-to-beijing-over-church-crosses-ucanews-com-reporter-hong-kong\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hong Kong prelate appeals to Beijing over church crosses - ucanews.com reporter, Hong Kong - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"August 13, 2015 Cardinal John Tong Hon brands removal campaign in Zhejiang &#8216;illegal&#8217; Cardinal John Tong Hon of Hong Kong has issued an \u201curgent appeal\u201d to Communist Party chiefs in Beijing, calling on them to order a halt to an ongoing cross-removal campaign in Zhejiang province. \u201cI sincerely and urgently appealed to the central government...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/08\/14\/hong-kong-prelate-appeals-to-beijing-over-church-crosses-ucanews-com-reporter-hong-kong\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-08-14T07:36:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/photo-UPDATE-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"423\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"283\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ACN Malta Media\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"ACN Malta Media\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/08\/14\/hong-kong-prelate-appeals-to-beijing-over-church-crosses-ucanews-com-reporter-hong-kong\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/08\/14\/hong-kong-prelate-appeals-to-beijing-over-church-crosses-ucanews-com-reporter-hong-kong\/\",\"name\":\"Hong Kong prelate appeals to Beijing over church crosses - ucanews.com reporter, Hong Kong - Aid to the Church in Need (Malta)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/08\/14\/hong-kong-prelate-appeals-to-beijing-over-church-crosses-ucanews-com-reporter-hong-kong\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/08\/14\/hong-kong-prelate-appeals-to-beijing-over-church-crosses-ucanews-com-reporter-hong-kong\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/photo-UPDATE-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-08-14T07:36:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-08-14T07:36:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/#\/schema\/person\/3c01ab68e03f1b76347f9f6ac439a9d2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/08\/14\/hong-kong-prelate-appeals-to-beijing-over-church-crosses-ucanews-com-reporter-hong-kong\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/08\/14\/hong-kong-prelate-appeals-to-beijing-over-church-crosses-ucanews-com-reporter-hong-kong\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/08\/14\/hong-kong-prelate-appeals-to-beijing-over-church-crosses-ucanews-com-reporter-hong-kong\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/photo-UPDATE-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/photo-UPDATE-2.jpg\",\"width\":423,\"height\":283},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2015\/08\/14\/hong-kong-prelate-appeals-to-beijing-over-church-crosses-ucanews-com-reporter-hong-kong\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hong Kong prelate appeals to Beijing over church crosses &#8211; 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