Chinese Catholics acknowledged

ROME -- Pope Benedict XVI made a prominent though indirect reference to the plight of Chinese Catholics during Holy Week by choosing Hong Kong's Cardinal Joseph Zen to write the meditations for the traditional Good Friday Stations of the Cross service in Rome's Coliseum.

Chinese Catholics, who are estimated to number between 12 million and 15 million, have been divided for half a century between an "official" church controlled by Beijing and an "underground" church loyal to Rome, many of whose leaders have been imprisoned by the government.

Zen, a prominent critic of the Chinese government, told the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that he thought the pope had chosen him for the task in order to "bring to the Coliseum the voice of the church in China."

"As we walk behind Jesus on the Via Dolorosa," Zen said, "we feel close to our Chinese brothers, in a prelude to the resurrection."

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