HONG KONG (UCAN) -- Pope Benedict XVI has turned down the retirement request of Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun of Hong Kong and has asked him to continue his efforts on behalf of the Church in China.

In an open letter to all Catholics in Hong Kong, Cardinal Zen said he received a letter on March 19, Feast of St. Joseph, signed by Cardinal Ivan Dias, Prefect of the Congregation for Evangelization of Peoples, in which "he informed me that the Holy Father has decided not to accept my repeated request to be relieved from the office of the Bishop of Hong Kong."

In that letter, to be published in the March 25 issue of Kung Kao Po, the diocese's Chinese-language weekly, Cardinal Zen says the pope has decided that "I carry on as the Bishop of Hong Kong and, in that position, do whatever I can to participate in the concerns for the Church in China in collaboration with the Holy See, until it will be arranged otherwise."

The prelate turned 75 this past Jan. 13. A year ago, he wrote to Pope Benedict requesting retirement, thereby fulfilling a canonical requirement for bishops reaching 75, but the pope elevated him to the rank of cardinal in March 2006. Cardinal Zen reiterated his request to the pope this past January while attending the special meeting on the China Church at the Vatican.

Regarding the pope's decision, Cardinal Zen stated in his open letter: "Obedience is (a) fundamental duty grounded in our Sacramental Ordination. I look up to the example of St. Joseph and submit myself to the will of God."

He also asked the faithful to continue to pray for him. "I will petition the Holy See that a coadjutor bishop be soon given to our diocese," he added.

As of August 2006, the Hong Kong diocese has 246,877 Catholics served by 290 diocesan and Religious priests. There are also 508 Religious nuns and 9 permanent deacons working in the diocese.

Anthony Lam Sui-ki, senior researcher of Hong Kong diocese's Holy Spirit Study Centre, told UCA News on March 21 that the Holy See has clearly answered Cardinal Zen's request. But Lam maintains that the cardinal can fulfill his future role and contribute to the China Church once the China commission of the Holy See is established, as proposed during the China summit in January.

Bishop Aloysius Jin Luxian of Shanghai in eastern China told UCA News on March 21 that since Cardinal Zen is "still young and wise," it is good for the pope to keep him in office. Cardinal Zen could "play a bridging role between the Universal Church and China Church," the 90-year-old prelate also noted.

Bishop Jin invited the then Salesian Father Zen, a fellow Shanghai native, to teach at Sheshan Seminary in Shanghai, and he did so from 1989 to 1996. In April 2004, he invited Bishop Zen to revisit his birthplace.

Anthony Liu Bainian, vice-chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, refused to comment on the pope's decision but told UCA News on March 21 he hopes everyone will help improve China-Vatican relations.

Cardinal Zen has been famous for being his outspokenness on democratic development in Hong Kong and on the Church in China issues, which has caused tense relations between him and the China government.

Since May 2006, Cardinal Zen has been a member of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. The year before, he became a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments.

The late Pope John Paul II named him a member of the Post-Synodal Council for the April-May 1998 Synod for Asia, and Pope Benedict named him to the Post-Synodal Council for the Synod on the Eucharist, held in October 2005.

On Dec. 9, 1996, he was ordained as coadjutor bishop of Hong Kong, at the same time Bishop John Tong Hon was ordained an auxiliary of the diocese. When Cardinal John Baptist Wu Cheng-chung of Hong Kong died on Sept. 23, 2002, Coadjutor Bishop Zen succeeded Cardinal Wu as head of the diocese.

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