A group of parliamentarians was recently thwarted in its efforts to see a motion passed in the House of Commons to grant honorary Canadian citizenship to Jimmy Lai, the prominent Catholic political prisoner jailed for his role in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests. 

Though essentially a symbolic gesture, it was understood to be an important one taken at the outset of the June 15-17 G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alta.

The cross-party coalition seeking support for Lai included Liberal MP Judy Sgro, Conservative MPs Tony Baldinelli and Shuvaloy Majumdar, NDP MP Jenny Kwan, Bloc Québécois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May, Senator Pierre Dalphond and Senator Julie Miville-Dechêne.

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At a June 10 press conference, parliamentarians were joined by Sebastien Lai, Lai’s son, and lead lawyer, Caoilfhionn Gallagher.

“We are hugely grateful for the bipartisan broad support that we have here in Canada,” Gallagher said.

On June 11, Government House Leader Steve MacKinnon told Sgro that she could not proceed with the house motion. It came as a surprise to the Toronto MP. As reported in The Globe and Mail, Sgro said, “I had everybody on side and ready to move forward yesterday at noon. But then somewhere, something went off the rails.”

But a leading human rights activist has hope that where the Canadian parliamentarians failed in having Lai’s plight highlighted, Pope Leo XIV will provide a new way forward in the relationship between China and the Holy See and thereby bring fresh energy to the campaign to free him.

Benedict Rogers, co-founder of Hong Kong Watch and senior director of Fortify Rights, has played an active role in international efforts to highlight the cause of Lai. In an email to The Catholic Register, Rogers wrote he hopes the Pope will both “take the Holy See in a new direction in its China policy, by being more willing to speak out publicly about the appalling human rights crisis across China,” and “speak out and pray publicly for Jimmy Lai.”

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Lai is an entrepreneur and publisher of the former newspaper Apple Daily who was imprisoned by Hong Kong authorities in December 2020 for his role in pro-democracy protests. The 77-year-old has been held in solitary confinement since his arrest and has been denied the reception of Holy Communion. 

If Pope Leo XIV were to refer to Lai publicly it would be a divergence from papal practice since the Sino-Vatican accord on the appointment of bishops was signed in 2018. Though the late Pope Francis spoke of human rights abuses in Gaza, Sudan and Myanmar, he never spoke of China.

In a November 2024 National Catholic Register article, former general manager of Apple Daily Mark Simon noted that the silence of the Holy See about Lai told the Chinese Communist Party they had “little to fear from Pope Francis over the persecution of Catholics in China.” 

Pope Leo XIV’s recent address to Vatican press corps is what both Rogers and Lai’s legal team point to as a positive indication of a change in direction.

“The new pontiff’s recent speech on press freedom… offers some hope and provides a foundation upon which he could build to specifically call for the release of Mr. Lai,” said Rogers.

In that May 12 speech, the Pope spoke of the “Church’s solidarity with journalists who are imprisoned for seeking to report the truth, and with these words I also ask for the release of these imprisoned journalists.” 

“The suffering of these imprisoned journalists,” said Pope Leo, “challenges the conscience of nations and the international community, calling on all of us to safeguard the precious gift of free speech and of the press.”

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In an email, a spokesperson for Lai’s defense team told the Register, “The Vatican has historically played a very important role in defending human rights around the world, and it could play a very important role in arguing for Mr. Lai's release.” 

Vancouver Archbishop Emeritus J. Michael Miller was one of 10 Catholic bishops, including Americans Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Bishop Robert Barron, who signed a 2023 petition demanding the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region “immediately and unconditionally release” Lai. At the time, Miller told the B.C Catholic, “Mr. Lai is a person of faith who is being silenced and imprisoned for his pro-democracy convictions. Justice demands that we speak up for them and give them a voice.”