Cardinal Zen Urges Pope Leo to Replace Synod Leaders
In a Borromeo feast post, the Hong Kong emeritus branded Study Group 9’s homosexual-acts claim blasphemy and sought Grech and Hollerich’s long vacation.
Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, has urged Pope Leo XIV to end the Synod on Synodality process and to replace key figures leading it. In a blog post published for the feast of St. Charles Borromeo, the cardinal asked that Cardinal Mario Grech and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich be given “a long vacation,” writing that the Holy Father “cannot entrust the governance of the Church to the Secretariat for the Synods.” He added that the head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith should also be replaced.
Zen directed sharp criticism at the final report of Study Group 9. He said the text concludes that “the sexual act between a homosexual couple is a gift from God,” a claim he labeled blasphemy. He linked the episode to earlier tensions around Fiducia Supplicans and to what he described as “hidden agendas” on questions such as women’s ordination and changes to sexual morality—topics he said were moved into study groups after they failed to advance in the synodal assembly itself.
Critique of Method and Call to Fidelity
The cardinal argued that the late Pope Francis altered the Synod of Bishops into a “democratic consultation of the entire People of God,” allowing “confusion” to reign “for years.” While affirming the validity of the Second Vatican Council, Zen maintained that fidelity to its decrees had been lacking. He contrasted the present path with the reforms that followed the Council of Trent under St. Charles Borromeo and praised the approaches of Popes Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI.
Zen warned that the Church risks betraying its mission if it accommodates the world rather than remaining faithful to apostolic doctrine. His appeal places before Pope Leo XIV a direct request for personnel changes at the Synod secretariat and at the doctrinal dicastery, together with a halt to the current synodal method. The intervention renews longstanding concerns among some pastors about the handling of moral teaching and the authority proper to the episcopal college and the Roman Pontiff.
The feast-day post frames the dispute not as a rejection of synodality in the abstract but as a plea that governance not be surrendered to structures Zen judges inadequate to safeguard doctrine. By invoking Borromeo’s post-Tridentine labors, the cardinal presents reform as fidelity to received teaching rather than accommodation. The Holy Father alone can decide whether to act on the requests regarding Cardinals Grech, Hollerich, and the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.