“You realize that the rest of the world is looking toward Pope Francis as maybe the one person who could end this [war], who could bring peace,” Ambassador Donnelly told Gerard O’Connell.

Catholics in China in recent years have experienced greater difficulties in the practice of their faith as a result of the crackdown on religion being carried out under the regime of President Xi Jin-ping.

On “Inside the Vatican,” veteran Vatican reporter Gerard O’Connell and host Colleen Dulle explore why Cardinal Joseph Zen appears to pose such a grave threat to the Chinese government.

While the arrest was widely denounced by governments and human rights groups, Catholic entities offered varying degrees of condemnation, reflecting the gravity and delicacy of a situation that has escalated dramatically.

The 90-year-old cardinal has been an outspoken defender of human rights and democracy in Hong Kong and strongly critical of Beijing for its suppression of fundamental freedoms in the city.

The pope recorded the messages in the spur-of-the-moment when he received the new bishop of Hong Kong, Bishop Stephen Chow Sau Yan, S.J., in a private audience at the papal library in the Vatican’s apostolic palace.