Global news from ENI

Hong Kong cardinal joins protest for religious freedom in
China

Hong Kong (ENI). Cardinal Joseph Zen Ke-kiun, the retired
bishop of Hong Kong, joined a protest outside the Chinese Liaison Office in
Hong Kong yesterday, asking Beijing to stop harassing Catholic bishops and
priests in mainland China. Zen and the event’s organizer, the Catholic Justice
and Peace Commission, criticized Beijing for interfering with recent bishop
ordinations. An ordination on 29 June in Leshan, Sichuan, took place without
papal mandate. On the same day, however, one with a papal mandate was stopped
by the authorities in Handan, Hebei. The candidate, Fr. Joseph Sun Jigen, was
arrested. [312 words, ENI-11-0342]

Conference looking at racism in Latin America ends with call for change

Managua, Nicaragua (ENI). Religious leaders from across
the Americas and the Caribbean issued a declaration calling for a worldwide
move by churches to educate people about racism, according to a news release.
The statement came at the conclusion of a conference held last week in Managua,
Nicaragua. Organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Latin
America Council of Churches (CLAI), the gathering focused on the violent
effects of racism against people of African descent in the region. It was the
first such event to bring together church leaders of Afro-descendent
communities in the Americas and the Caribbean. [289 words, ENI-11-0343]