HONG KONG – Pope Francis has sent condolences and a blessing to the Hong Kong Diocese following the Jan. 3 death of Bishop Yeung Ming-cheung, 73, of liver failure.

VATICAN – Dialogue and respectful understanding are the prerequisites for social harmony and world peace, Hong Kong Cardinal John Tong Hon told a symposium on Christianity and China.

HONG KONG – Hong Kong Christians came together to pray for terminally ill Liu Xiaobo, less than a week before his death.

Pope Francis and President Xi Jinping came into their present roles within a day of each other in 2013 – Pope Francis was elected March 13 and Xi became president March 14. However, they have each followed a completely different path in governing immense and cumbersome entities – the People's Republic of China and the universal church.

HONG KONG – People think that Christian icon painting is the preserve of male painters and that only Orthodox Christians can create a good icon. But in the Diocese of Hong Kong, icon painter Cindy Ng has decided to set the record straight.

HONG KONG - Cardinal John Tong Hon of Hong Kong has issued an "urgent appeal" to Communist Party chiefs in Beijing, calling on them to order a halt to an ongoing cross-removal campaign from Christian churches in Zhejiang province.

HONG KONG - When Fr. Joseph Zhang Yinlin was ordained coadjutor bishop of Anyang Diocese, he became the first publicly ordained Chinese bishop in three years and the first since the Vatican and China restarted its dialogue in June 2014.

HONG KONG - Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, retired bishop of Hong Kong, protested at the Chinese Liaison Office in the city and asked the whereabouts of Bishop Cosmas Shi Enxiang of Yixian, who was said to have died in detention.

HONG KONG - Hong Kong Christian leaders urged reconciliation in their Christmas messages, issued within a week of the end of a 79-day protest.

HONG KONG - Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, retired bishop of Hong Kong, joined the civil disobedience movement organizers who surrendered to police Dec. 3, with a hope to end the present occupation campaign that has lasted more than two months.

HONG KONG - The two cardinals in Hong Kong urged the government to solve the present political deadlock after police used force to disperse thousands of unarmed protesters who struggled for full democracy in the city.

VATICAN CITY - Chinese Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun warned that the Chinese Catholic Church is "on the verge of a schism" between communities cooperating with government structures and those who refuse to register with government authorities, and he called on the Vatican and other Catholics to shun "organisms that are not only foreign but clearly hostile to the church" in China.

Cardinal Zen, retired bishop of Hong Kong, made his comments in an article published Feb. 8 by Asia News, a missionary news agency based in Rome.

HONG KONG - A year after Pope Benedict XVI’s letter to mainland Chinese Catholics, and on the eve of Beijing hosting the Olympic Games, Chinese church leaders said some positive developments have resulted but more work needs to be done to achieve the letter’s objectives.