Hong Kong’s Article 23 law: Catholic diocese to preserve integrity of confession, city’s top cleric says
- Cardinal Stephen Chow pledges not to give up on confessions, after new law requires public to report treasonous acts ‘as soon as reasonably practicable’
- ‘Under the requirements of national security, we all need to adjust pastoral ways … [But] what has not changed is insistence on love taught by Lord Jesus,’ he says
The Safeguarding National Security Ordinance took effect last week and requires residents who learn someone has committed or is about to commit treason to inform police “as soon as reasonably practicable” or risk up to 14 years in prison.
Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan, head of the city’s Catholic diocese, also said the community might need to adjust to the new legislation, but pledged not to give up on adherents who needed companions.
“Under the requirements of national security, we all need to adjust the pastoral ways. This may sometimes make us feel unsmooth, but what has not changed is the insistence on love taught by Lord Jesus,” he said at a service on Thursday.
He said the diocese under such circumstances would not give up on the confessional needs of the community.
“We will preserve the integrity [of the confessions] uncompromised, regardless of the cost,” he said.
The new law works in tandem with the national security law imposed by Beijing, consisting of 39 offences divided into five categories: treason; insurrection, incitement to mutiny and disaffection and acts with seditious intention; sabotage; external interference; and theft of state secrets and espionage.
Reverend Peter Koon Ho-ming, a lawmaker, earlier raised questions about the confidentiality of religious confessions at a review session for the ordinance, asking whether church figures would be charged if they failed to report acts or thoughts that could endanger national security.
Hong Kong Article 23 law won’t ‘alter confidential nature of church confessions’
Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok said at the time that no one would be considered as having committed a crime by not reporting others, but it would be difficult to exempt religious leaders and social workers from the bill just for having private conversations at work.
On Wednesday, Cardinal Chow issued a seasonal message for Easter and said justice would triumph. “At the right time, good will eventually overcome evil,” he added.
The cleric also said people should come together as the world had been wounded by dogmatic ideologies and wars, economies struggling to recover and sociopolitical discourse that seemed incapable of fostering hope.
Chow urged the public not to underestimate the power of sharing and togetherness.
