All Around Town | All Around Town: When a Confucian met a Catholic in Rome
Pope Francis greets huge crowds during the Vatican’s General Audience every Wednesday, and for many Catholics who attend it would be a dream come true to have a personal conversation with the pontiff. That chance however went to a non-Catholic on October 28 last year, when Hong Kong’s Confucian Academy president Tong Yun-kai met the pope in Rome. “I was there with about 400 religious leaders from around the world ... and I told the pope that I am very worried about the chaos around the globe, including the refugee crisis in Europe,” Tong told the Post. “I asked him what could religious leaders do ... The pope said he too was worried about these problems.” Tong met the pontiff as part of the Interreligious General Audience held on that day. According to the Vatican’s website, the occasion was held to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the declaration which defines the relationship between the Catholic church and the non-Christian religions. It is understood that Cardinal John Tong Hon, leader of Hong Kong’s 379,000 Catholics, meets the pope on multiple occasions each year.
Tony Cheung
Failure route to success for HK political party
It is often said that failure is the mother of success, but one Hong Kong political party is putting this philosophy into practice quite literally. The newly formed middle-of-the-road political party Third Side is sending a 20-member delegation to Taiwan to learn election strategies from the three candidates standing in Saturday’s presidential elections. Of special interest to Third Side, according to its chairman and delegation leader Tik Chi-yuen, is the People First Party headed by James Soong Chu-yu – a three-time loser as a presidential and vice-presidential candidate. “Soong has sort of adopted a ‘middle-of-the-road’ strategy in an election dominated mainly by two rival parties. We think we can learn something from it,” said Tik. The five-day visit is also expected to include a stopover at a post-election media session to observe, among other things, how a defeated candidate delivers his or her concession speech. Tik’s party is fielding Nelson Wong Sing-chi for next month’s Legislative Council by-election against Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu of the Civic Party, Holden Chow Ho-ding of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, and independents Christine Fong Kwok-shan and Lau Chi-shing.
Ng Kang-chung