A senior Hong Kong priest regarded as close to Beijing has cancelled a planned visit to Rome after details of the trip were leaked to the press.
Father Peter Choi Wai-man, 66, vicar general of Hong Kong, had been scheduled to travel with Cardinal John Tong Hon, the emeritus bishop of Hong Kong, to meet Pope Leo XIV on 4 October.
The pair were to be part of a delegation of 12. According to the National Catholic Register, tickets had already been purchased and the group were “coming with an agenda.”
But the journey was abandoned at the last minute after reports of the visit were made public. The Italian Catholic daily La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana reported on 27 September that Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan of Hong Kong had lobbied Pope Leo XIV to appoint Father Choi as an auxiliary bishop. It said Cardinal Chow had raised the matter in a private audience with the Pope on 2 September.
Although Hong Kong already has an auxiliary, Bishop Joseph Ha Chi-shing, he is seen by Beijing and local authorities as too sympathetic to the democracy movement. His public support for the protests of 2019 and his closeness to Cardinal Joseph Zen have made him unacceptable to pro-Beijing officials.
Requests for comment on the planned journey were sent by the National Catholic Register to Cardinal Tong and Father Choi on 29 September. The cardinal did not respond, and the diocese replied on behalf of Father Choi to say it did “not comment on personal itineraries.”
Cardinal Tong is understood to have supported Father Choi to succeed him in 2019 after the sudden death of Bishop Michael Yeung Ming-cheung. At the time, Choi was seen by both Hong Kong officials and the Vatican as a figure who could maintain dialogue with Beijing. But his possible appointment was delayed and eventually abandoned, with Jesuit Stephen Chow named bishop in 2021.
Father Choi has since led clergy formation and ecumenical initiatives in the diocese. Yet many local Catholics see him as too close to the Communist Party, with Cardinal Zen once describing him as a “pro-Beijing hawk”, according to the NCR.
The controversy comes as Hong Kong authorities prepare new restrictions on civil liberties, which would give officials the power to bar prisoners from meeting priests or lawyers. Among those affected could be Jimmy Lai, the jailed Catholic entrepreneur and democracy activist, who has been held since 2020.
The wider debate over episcopal appointments in Hong Kong remains tied to the provisional agreement between the Holy See and China on the governance of the Church. Renewed in 2022, the accord has been denounced by critics as handing too much control to Beijing.
(Photo by BERTHA WANG/AFP via Getty Images)
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