The special status of Hong Kong gives a platform to Cardinal Joseph Zen Zi-kiun, the archbishop of that city. Able to operate openly and with relatively little fear of arrest, he serves as teh visible leader of Chinese Catholics loyal to the Vatican in a nation where such Catholics are subject to serious persecution at th hands of the Red Chinese government and its puppet church.

MASS had scarcely ended on June 4 when a gaggle of young women flocked to the front of the cathedral. Groups of them took turns having their photos taken with the thin, silver-haired 74-year-old who so captured their fancy: Cardinal Joseph Zen Zi-kiun.

He smiled gently for the photos, then walked across an alley to an indoor basketball court with a concrete floor and rusty fans on the walls that barely stirred the warm, humid air. After a youth group had sung religious songs, and after a slide show depicting the Chinese military crackdown in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, he read a strongly worded message calling for residents of Hong Kong to remember their countrymen elsewhere in China.

"The young people who fought and died for democracy in Tiananmen Square were their brothers and sisters," he said in the speech. "After June 4, we can no longer fight selfishly just to win the most rights for Hong Kong."

With his charisma, erudition and dedication to human rights, Cardinal Zen has become a celebrity here, a man wielding considerable political influence as well as religious power. But his high profile and growing influence have antagonized senior officials in mainland China, particularly those who oversee the state-controlled church.

A man of learning in a non-Christian land with a culture of respect for scholars, Cardinal Zen is the sort of man who dictators fear -- a man of faith whose loyalty is to God and not Caesar. Prepare to be inspired by this profile.

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