Hong Kong has its own Catholic university. Local authorities elevated the former Caritas Institute for Higher Education to the rank of university.
University of St. Franciszka is the fourth private university in the former British colony. Last autumn, the Hong Kong Council for the Accreditation of Academic and Vocational Qualifications had already declared that all necessary requirements had been met. All that was missing was formal approval from local authorities, led by Chief Minister John Lee, which has now been made official.
Official establishment of the University of St. Francis is the fulfillment of a long-standing wish of the Catholic Church in Hong Kong. In the 1970s, then Bishop Francis Hsu campaigned for the establishment of a Catholic-inspired university. “Caritas Francis Hsu College” was founded in 1985 under his name, which later gave rise to the Caritas Institute of Higher Education and is highly regarded in Hong Kong, especially for the training of nurses and social workers.
Together with the Caritas Bianchi Higher Vocational School, named after the missionary Lorenzo Bianchi, who was bishop in Hong Kong until 1969, the new academic institution now offers university courses in 35 different disciplines, including social sciences, engineering and economics, and has an enrollment of approximately 2,500 students. The current Archbishop of Hong Kong, Cardinal Stephen Chow, actively promoted the idea of a Catholic university in Hong Kong when he was the superior of the local Jesuits.
The fight against religion
Over the past five years, the Chinese state has strictly banned all children from any contact with religion, and churches have been placed under surveillance based on facial recognition and linked to social scores. During this time, Bible printing was restricted and censored, Beijing imprisoned Christian bishops and preachers, and had their sermons censored to conform to Xi Jinping’s thinking.
Source: Do Rzeczy
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
