Severo Portela
1. Unexpectedly the Bishop, who is almost 70 and is now known to have been dealing with some health issues and undergoing medical treatment, tended his resignation as the head of the Catholic Church in Macau; Pope Francis accepted D. José Lai’s request (and to succeed the first and only Macau-born Bishop and the second Chinese after his predecessor Hong Kong-born D. Domingos Lam) and decided to appoint one of the three Auxiliary Bishops of Hong Kong, 58-year-old Stephen Lee Bun-sang.
Bishop Stephen Lee, Opus Dei Vicar for East Asia, was one of the three Auxiliaries the Catholic Church appointed back in 2014; the first ones to be ordained since 1997. Nominated together with Bishop Lee were the Franciscan Joseph Ha, also Hong Kong-born, and Bishop Michael Yeung from Shanghai.
The Auxiliary Bishops of the Hong Kong Diocese began their ministry in a social and political context described by the French news agency
Églises d´Asie as rolling in “a culminating moment of serious political crisis, just before a democratic movement protest broke out after a series of coincidences”. The Catholic Church in Hong Kong, a half million strong flock, is a dynamic one and strategically important in bridging the Vatican and the PRC that houses a Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association and an underground Vatican-leaning Church.
Coincidentally the Vatican was to choose one of the three 2014 ABs to lead the peculiarities of the old Macau Diocese. Regarding experience of the Vatican State, we can quote emeritus Cardinal Joseph Zen when he says that Pope Francis is a master in diplomacy.
The new head of the Diocese of Macau, Bishop Stephen Lee, an OD Vicar since 2011, has a degree in Architecture. Before he entered the Seminary – he was ordained a priest in 1988 –
he attended University in England, first at the Oxford Polytech and then at the School of Architecture in London, where he got his degree in 1981. He joined the John Harris Architecture Studio. Perhaps this expertise could serve better the needs of the Macau Diocese. However, when profiling Lee, the Vatican Insider World News underlines that he is an expert in Canon Law and has “leadership experience having worked in Catholic schools: this is another hot issue which has caused friction between the Church and the local government [Hong Kong] which is accused of trying to extend its power to control private institutions”.
To conclude, we have to say that the unexpected call to one of the 2014 Auxiliary Bishops –
given the obvious differences between the two Special Administrative Regions – to be Macau shepherd, will lure cynics into believing that Bishop Lee was given an easy chair and breathing space. The same mistake they made regarding some high officials who happen to exert profound influence in Macau.
2. Taiwanese voted massively to give the Democratic Progressive Party the second presidency ever to Lady Tsai Ing-wen and an absolute majority in the Legislative Yuan (68/113). It was a treble victory for the DPP that gave the top job to a woman for the first time, opposed Beijing´s invitations to political unification and addressed the rules of engagement with China. Beijing through TAO speaks about national sovereignty and territorial integrity, Lady Tsai speaks about ingrained democracy and says that both sides have to look for mutually acceptable means of interacting… so Taiwan´s international space must be respected. Neither talks about independence nor Ma Ying-jeou.
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