Hong Kong, China - Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen accused Chinese officials of blocking youths from attending a week-long Catholic retreat here because the gathering was branded as an "anti-China event," local media reported yesterday.
Zen said 60 people from the mainland signed up to attend Asian Youth Day, hosted by the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong, the Ming Pao Daily News reported. But Zen said many weren't allowed to come because four local governments -- which he would not identify -- wouldn't let them, Ming Pao said.
"It is very sad that officials have ruined this opportunity for exchange, even though this is a spiritual and not a political event," Zen told the South China Morning Post.
The Ming Pao quoted a priest, Chan Dak-hung, who helped organize the event, as saying that between 30 and 40 lay people and clergy from the mainland arrived in Hong Kong for the event, which started yesterday.
Six hundred people including Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang were due to attend the opening ceremony of the week-long event yesterday.
It was not known how many mainlanders showed up for the event.
Hong Kong Cable TV interviewed a college student from northern Hebei Province who said she didn't tell officials she had come to Hong Kong to attend the Catholic event.
"I said I was coming as a tourist, otherwise they wouldn't let me come," said the student, who wasn't identified to protect her from possible persecution.
Zen, appointed by the Vatican, has long been distrusted by Beijing because he's an outspoken advocate of democracy and religious freedom in China.
He said that one of the local governments mistakenly labeled the gathering "an anti-China event."
"Asian Youth Day is simply an exchange event that has nothing to do with politics. Religion on the mainland is becoming more and more open. But there are just a few officials whose views are too narrow. It's too bad their confusion has spoiled an opportunity for youths to have an exchange," Ming Pao quoted the cardinal as saying.
China forced Catholics to cut ties with the Vatican in 1951 after the communists took power.
The government allows worship only in state-monitored churches, but millions of Catholics remain loyal to the Vatican and worship in secret.