Will pope's cardinal picks have political repercussions?

Whaddya know, it's time for my weekly Los Angeles Daily News column! Pope Benedict XVI just elevated 15 cardinals, and two of them come from volatile regions that are hostile to democracy and human rights -- and hostile to the church. One is more outspoken than the other. Both may be at the right place at the right time to take a stand and put real pressure on their countries' despotic leaders. A snippet:

"Cardinal Joseph Zen scares the bejesus out of the Chinese government.

One of 15 cardinals elevated by Pope Benedict XVI, Hong Kong's Zen was curtly warned by China's foreign ministry against mixing religion and politics.

'Why would you appoint someone who doesn't support communism as a cardinal?' asked Liu Bainian, the vice-chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, the state-sanctioned faux church that doesn't recognize the Vatican. 'Is it like Poland? Didn't the church play a big role in Poland?

'If China's bishops were all like him then it would be dangerous like Poland. Bishop Zen is widely known as an opponent of communism.'

Zen, who openly champions political and religious freedom and has called on the government to 'tell the truth' about the Tiananmen Square massacre, is certainly taking the criticism in stride. 'I am over 70; there are things that will be hard to change,' he told reporters in Hong Kong.

Millions of Chinese still loyal to the Roman Catholic Church face harassment, fines or labor camps. China, which kicked out the Vatican's ambassador in 1951, wants a say in the appointment of bishops (interesting request for an atheist regime). The Holy See remains a diplomatic ally with Taiwan.

Will Zen as cardinal play a similar role in battling communism as Pope John Paul II did? There are too few Chinese Catholics to alone topple the government, but inspiring figures who rally people to freedom transcend religion. This is not the only authoritarian regime targeted in the pope's cardinal picks, either.

Newly elevated Jorge Liberato Urosa Savino, Archbishop of Caracas, Venezuela, 'strengthens the voice of the church in dealing with radical left-leaning President Hugo Chavez,' Matthew Bunson, editor of The Catholic Almanac, told USA Today.

Chavez has been no less than a hell-raiser in a 96 percent nominally Roman Catholic country. A man who verbally smacks down the clergy, he has called the church a 'tumor' and claims Jesus was a socialist. ..."

Read the whole thing! It's slightly more appropriate for Lent than my "South Park" column last week (which was picked up by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Salt Lake Tribune...).

Comments

[Jeff Miller]

And then there is also Boston with Sean Cardinal O'Malley. Where the politicians and newspaper (especially the Boston Globe) are very hostile to the Church. Anti-Democratic since they are ruled by judges with the same-sex marriage edict. Against human rights also since religious freedom is not allowed and Catholic hospitals must give plan B contracepton and they tried to force Catholic Charities to give children to same sex couples.

[Rancher]

Wow, way to go Benedict!

[Lewis B. Sckolnick]

Jeff Miller just does not understand what there is to understand about Boston-have you paid off your pol yet?