Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan of Hong Kong encouraged his people to “proactively forgive” the Tienanmen Square massacre, in a column for the diocesan newspaper.
The cardinal’s column appeared just before the 35th anniversary of the massacre. Demonstrations commemorating the event, which had been held yearly in Hong Kong, were outlawed in 2020.
Cardinal Chow wrote that the memory of the massacre “remains a sore spot.” But he said: “Maybe it is through forgiveness that the different parties can move beyond finger-pointing and the painful ‘I will never forgive’ mindset.”