Cardinal Zen attends trial of democracy activist
THE 92-year-old former Roman Catholic Bishop of Hong Kong, Cardinal Joseph Zen, was present in court for the trial of the democracy activist Jimmy Lai, this week. A newspaper publisher who launched Apple Daily, a pro-democracy paper, Mr Lai was arrested in 2020 under the Chinese National Security Law (News, 18 December 2020), on charges including foreign collusion. Cardinal Zen was arrested under the same law, but released on bail. He baptised and received Mr Lai into the RC Church in 1997. “If I go away, I not only give up my destiny, I give up God, I give up my religion, I give up what I believe in,” Mr Lai said in 2020 in an interview with the University of Notre Dame in the United States.
Becciu found guilty of embezzlement by Vatican
THE Vatican criminal court has sentenced Cardinal Angel Becciu to five years’ and six months’ imprisonment, perpetual disqualification from public office, and a fine of €8000, after finding him guilty on three counts of embezzlement. He will appeal. The trial, which ended on Saturday, concerned the management of funds of the Secretariat of State and, in particular, the purchase and sale of a building: 60 Sloane Avenue, London (News, 9 October 2020). The court said that Becciu had been irresponsible and “highly speculative” to invest more than $200 million with a fund run by the Italian financier Raffaele Mincione, who was given the same sentence. Several other defendants also received sentences, amounting to 37 years in total.
Nigerian woman accused of blasphemy bailed
A NIGERIAN Christian health worker, Rhoda Jatau, who was accused of blasphemy and jailed in 2022, was granted bail and freed on 8 December, Christian Solidarity International reports. The charges against her have not been dropped, and a court hearing is scheduled for 19 December. She was arrested in Bauchi State after she shared a video condemning the recent murder of Deborah Yakubu, a Christian university student in Nigeria who had herself been accused of blasphemy (News, 23 December 2022, News 20 May 2022).