@CECCgov has sent a letter to the @WhiteHouse ahead of the summit, commending @POTUS for his willingness to raise #JimmyLai’s# case directly with CCP General Secretary #XiJinping#. We also say their names loudly: #EzraJin#, #GulshanAbbas#, #EkparAsat#, and #GaoZhen#. Read the full letter👉

Pope Pius XII on the 'Patriotic' Church in China. @Pontifex would do well to revisit. "For under an appearance of patriotism, which in reality is just a fraud, this association aims primarily at making Catholics gradually embrace the tenets of atheistic materialism, by which God Himself is denied and religious principles are rejected.... However, if Christians are bound in conscience to render to Caesar (that is, to human authority) what belongs to Caesar, then Caesar likewise, or those who control the state, cannot exact obedience when they would be usurping God's rights or forcing Christians either to act at variance with their religious duties or to sever themselves from the unity of the Church and its lawful hierarchy... Under such circumstances, every Christian should cast aside all doubt and calmly and firmly repeat the words with which Peter and the other Apostles answered the first persecutors of the Church: 'We must obey God rather than men.'" Ad Apostolorum Principis, 1958 Reflecting today on on #JimmyLai#, 78, an innocent British citizen, suffering in solitary confinement in Stanley prison, in 40 degree heat, and thinking about the worsening persecution of the underground Church in China. The Sino-Vatican pact is a strategic and ecclesiological disaster. Pius XII had his own struggles with authoritarianism. His private heroism has not erased questions about his public diplomacy regarding contemporary fascism, but he was clear-eyed and prescient about China nearly 70 years ago. 📸 is of a patriotic Church in China where the Ten Commandments have been replaced with quotes from Xi Jinping. Source: @zh_bitterwinter

Hong Kong Catholic activist and media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai’s son, Sebastian Lai, has warned that his father will likely die in prison if he is not released or given urgent intervention soon. Info: CBS News

.@POTUS on his meeting with President Xi: "I brought up Jimmy Lai, and I would say the response to that was not positive... I did I feel optimistic about the second one that’s now under consideration—the pastor. Very optimistic, actually."

President Trump and UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham discussed bringing up the detention of Hong Kong tycoon and democracy activist Jimmy Lai when the US leader meets China’s Xi Jinping later this week