Hong Kong’s Cardinal Zen to attend Benedict’s funeral Mass

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s outspoken Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen has been allowed to leave the southern Chinese city to pay his respects to the late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in Vatican City. According to his secretary, Zen, a 90-year-old retired bishop, will attend the funeral Mass, led by Pope Francis, at St. Peter’s Square on Thursday and return to Hong Kong on Saturday. Zen and five others in Hong Kong were fined in November after being found guilty of failing to register a now-defunct fund that aimed to help people arrested in widespread 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Zen was first arrested in May last year on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces under a Beijing-imposed national security law.