The bishop emeritus of Hong Kong has spoken out forcefully against the Vatican’s newest “pastoral document” for the Chinese Church which gives reasons for why priests should register with the Communist government.

Joseph Cardinal Zen presented nine criticisms to Pope Francis and Pietro Cardinal Parolin on a recent trip to Rome, on July 1, that outline his concerns about the document.

“A text is signed against the faith and it is stated that the intention is to promote the good of the community, a more suitable evangelization, and the responsible management of Church assets. This general rule is obviously against all fundamental moral theology! If valid, [it] would justify even apostasy!” stated the cardinal in his criticisms which were published on his website on July 5.

“This document has radically turned upside what is normal and what is abnormal, what is rightful and what is pitiable. Those who wrote it hope perhaps that the pitied minority will die a natural death. By this minority I mean not only underground priests, but also the many brothers in the official community who have worked with great tenacity to achieve change, hoping for the support of the Holy See,” he stated later in his criticism of the pastoral document.

Cardinal Zen had been deeply involved in the recent protests that opposed the Chinese state imposition of extradition laws in Hong Kong. Many believe these laws would continue the methodical takeover of the former British colony, now acting as an independent “Special Administrative Region.”

His absence, however, was noted in the recent protests. In his statement, issued the morning of July 5, His Eminence explained what caused him to remain silent.

“On the evening of June 28, he received notice (that) the Holy See (had issued the newest pastoral document for the Church in China). As a bishop and a cardinal, I cannot accept this quietly. I must raise my doubts. It was (for this purpose) that I boarded a plane to Rome on the evening of the 29th.”

Leaders of Vietnam’s most active archdiocese have urged local Catholics to follow church instructions on worship and avoid deviant ritual practices claimed to caste out evil spirits.

Bishop Joseph Do Manh Hung, apostolic administrator of Ho Chi Minh City Archdiocese in the communist nation’s south, and Auxiliary Bishop Louis Nguyen Anh Tuan, said some local Catholics have adopted unsuitable practices. They warned people against Mother Mary’s Message, a Marian devotion movement launched by a lay man named Thomas Mary Nguyen Thanh Viet. It has been claimed that Mother Mary healed him of illnesses in 2010.

A senior church official has called on Philippine legislators to work for the welfare of the people and not blindly follow what President Rodrigo Duterte wants, which is to bring back the death penalty.

Rodolfo Diamante, executive secretary of the Episcopal Commission on Prison Pastoral Care, urged members of Congress “not to pass measures just to please the president.”

The call was made after the president said during his State of the Nation address on July 22 that he wanted capital punishment reinstated.

Duterte appealed to Congress to reinstate the death penalty for “heinous crimes related to illegal drugs and plunder.”

Diamante appealed to legislators to study whether the death penalty would solve the problem of illegal drugs.

“We urge them to study this thoroughly and determine if it would really address the problems of drug trafficking and plunder,” he said.

An Irish nun who has worked tirelessly to educate youngsters in Pakistan has been honoured in Britain.

At the St Mary’s University graduation ceremony at West-minster Cathedral on July 17, Cardinal Vincent Nichols presented the Benedict Medal, the university’s highest honour, to Sister Berchmans Conway in recognition of a lifetime’s teaching and promoting interfaith relations. The cardinal is the arch-bishop of Westminster and chancellor of St Mary’s.

Born in Ireland in 1930, Sister Berchmans joined the Convent of Jesus and Mary in 1951 in Willesden, London, and has spent over 65 years teaching, mostly in Pakistan, where she has taught students of different faiths at the Convents of Jesus and Mary in Lahore, Murree and Karachi.

Among her pupils were Benazir Bhutto, the first female Muslim Prime Minister in the world, and astrophysicist Nergis Mavalvala. Calling Sister Berchmans “a constant inspiration to many generations of teachers and students,” Cardinal Nichols said in his homily that she “is a shining example of all that is to be found at the heart of Catholic education: not a narrow self-interest but a radical openness to our human family.”

Ambassador at Large for Religious Freedom Sam Brown-back said that the Vatican’s agreement with China on the appointment of bishops ought to be made public so that it can be evaluated.

“It certainly seems to me that it’s in everybody’s interest for the agreement to be made public so that people can appraise it and it can be subject to the light of day and people understand what the parameters of it are,” Brown-back told journalists via conference call on July 12.

The deal, reached last Sept-ember, is believed to allow both Chinese officials and the Pope have to say on which bishops are named. However, the details of the agreement have not been made public, a fact that has been widely criticized.

During a visit to Hong Kong in March, Brownback said the deal had set a poor precedent for government interference with other religious communities, including Tibetan Buddhism and other Christian denominations.