The annual dinner for members of the Order in Britain was held last Friday at Boodle's. The guest speaker was Lord Alton of Liverpool. We are very grateful to him for providing the text for a wider readership.
Your Excellencies, ladies, and gentlemen, first I want to thank you for inviting me to be your guest this evening, not least because it gives me the opportunity to thank you for the huge contribution you have made over the centuries to the well-being of so many vulnerable people.
I live near a village in Lancashire which has a direct link to your Order. In medieval times and for 300 years until its dissolution by Henry VIII the Knights came to Stydd, near Ribchester, and created a hospice for pilgrims – some of them with incurable diseases such as leprosy – a disease that you continue to work to irradicate in developing parts of the world. In the hospital of St. Saviour, they received love and care from the brethren as part of their religious commitment to God. The small chapel still stands and is reputed to be where the martyred remains of St. Margaret Clitherow were secretly buried. Close by is the barn church built at the end of the eighteenth century thirty years before Catholic emancipation.
In Stydd chapel there is an octagonal font which features the shield of Sir Thomas Newport of Shropshire, a preceptor of the Order – and who is buried in the Knights Hospitaller citadel in Rhodes. And the second shield is of Sir Thomas Pemberton, a later preceptor.
Stydd chapel reminds me of the centuries old commitment of the Knights to care and welfare. Today through your work in hospitals, and hospices – and work with disabled people, the destitute and the homeless you are continuing in this vital life saving work. In England, the modern hospice movement, inspired in no small part by the tradition of the Hospitallers and illustrious Dame Cicely Saunders - nurse, social worker, physician, and writer – was a response to those who wanted and still attempt to legalise euthanasia.
All of us know that the one certainty in life is death. Perhaps the death of Her Majesty the Queen – with her son and daughter at her bedside – having lived a life of service until the very end - has given us all the chance to consider again what we used to call a good death – and your Order has an opportunity to meet a real need of how we can prepare to die well.
Care and kill can never be used as synonyms. But it’s not good enough to simply oppose something. You have to offer radical alternatives such as high-quality palliative care. That has always been part of your mission and as proponents of euthanasia continue to try and force through legalisation we have to do two things – demonstrate that to die with dignity you do not need a doctor to kill you; and, secondly, point to the lack of safeguards and dangers to the frail, disabled and elderly which have become routine in jurisdictions such as Holland where there are more than 6000 people euthanised each year – including for minors with psychiatric illnesses. Or Canada, where an army veteran recently telephoned his health authority looking for help and was directed to information about how to end his life.
Your Order’s work running over 60 care homes in the UK provides a wonderful exemplar of a Christian response to the end of life, where one is treated with love and respect and is helped and guided both physically and spiritually through the twilight and eventual dusk of this, our earthly life. Top quality care homes and palliative care are essential for us to maintain the argument that euthanasia is not the answer.
And the same is true at the beginning of life too. We have just passed the bleak milestone of 10 million abortions in Britain – more than one every 3 minutes, some right up to birth – including 90% of all babies with Down Syndrome.
I vividly remember attending a performance of Blue Apple Theatre company in Westminster, – whose cast comprises disabled people - and which was organised by the Order of Malta Volunteers. Their award-winning leading actor, Tommy Jessop’s rendition of Prince Hamlet’s soliloquy, and those famous words, “To be or not to be” – take on a special meaning when uttered by Tommy. For anyone with Down Syndrome – and for millions of others - that indeed is the question. I particularly salute the work of the charity Right to Life, and I thank those members of the Order who have done so much to support its life saving work.
But beyond your caring work the Order has a mandate to defend the Faith.
As a schoolboy I read a gripping account of the Great Siege of Malta in 1565 and was captivated by the heroism of the Grand Master, Jean de la Valette, and his brother Knights Hospitaller as they countered Ottoman attempts to impose Islam throughout Europe. On his tomb in the city named in his honour appear the words “Worthy of eternal honour…. the shield of Europe.”
This paved the way for the victory at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, in which the Knights played such an important part. GK Chesterton wrote a rollicking epic poem commemorating the defeat of the Turkish Sultan’s attempts to seize and control the Mediterranean Sea.
“They have dared the white republics
Up the capes of Italy,
They have dashed the Adriatic round
The Lion of the Sea,
And the Pope has cast his arms abroad
For agony and loss,
And called the kinds of Christendom
For swords about the Cross.
As in any conflict a heroic figure emerges, and in Lepanto Chesterton unapologetically points us to the illegitimate Don John of Austria who was undoubtedly the hero of Lepanto – whom Chesterton describes as the “Last Knight of Europe”.
In this, perhaps Chesterton was wrong – for in every succeeding age unexpected heroes emerge and some of them, like Don John, spring from unlikely origins.
Who, just two years ago, would have believed that an obscure former comedian in Ukraine would rally his people and lead Europe in the defence of the sovereignty of nations, the rule of law and democracy? But that is precisely what Vladimir Zelensky has done.
And what if Churchill had been judged by his first 60 years – and by serial failures and mistakes – he would be a footnote in our history books rather than acclaimed as the greatest of our Prime Ministers.
In Lepanto Chesterton encourages its readers to rise “tiny and unafraid” from their “nameless thrones” and to hear the song that was first sung “when all the world young.”
He knew that in remembering a battle for the soul of Europe, 450 years ago – when the religious and cultural heritage of Europe was in the balance - it might inspire and challenge future generations to think about what they must do in their own time and in their own ways to defend those same values and beliefs which we hold and are passed down by all those who have sung the same song celebrating the inestimable value and dignity of every human being made in God’s image.
None of this is to glory in conflict or war – quite the reverse. My father and grandfather both had to fight in terrible wars. My uncle died in the RAF. Cities like Liverpool Coventry and the East End of London suffered appallingly through aerial bombardment.
But who can doubt the justice in fighting against a destroyer, like Hitler, who sought the destruction of the liberties and freedoms which we hold dear? And who can doubt that too often good people choose to be quiet until it is too late?
We remember our past, we tell one another our stories, so that we can avert the repetition of past errors. We may not care for some of those commemorated on plinths or with statues but rather than acts of vandalism or endless campaigns seeking to cancel people and cancel history we use our energy and our gifts to understand what went before and to challenge contemporary injustices and present dangers.
When Croesus, the King of the Lydians, went to the Oracle at Delphi he asked what was the most important thing a man should know: “Know who you are” came the reply. Similarly, the prophet Isaiah says we must remember the rock from which we were hewn. When we succumb to collective amnesia and forget who we are it leads to the sort of identity crisis which seems to plague contemporary society.
Today, so many new challenges to our way of life demand the same heroism of Jean de la Valette, or Don John of Austria or the countless men and women who have dedicated their lives to withstanding the assault on what we hold dear – with the assailant often insidiously arriving unnoticed in carpet slippers.
Those challenges demand the tiny and unafraid to give voice and to use our opportunities and privileges to speak and to act.
You have a special mandate to defend Faith. One in eight Christians worldwide live in countries where they may face persecution. Among this number, 309 million Christians are living in countries where they might suffer very high or extreme levels of persecution. On average, every day, 13 Christians are killed for their faith, 12 churches or Christian buildings are attacked, 12 Christians are unjustly arrested, detained, or imprisoned, and 5 Christians are abducted for faith-related reasons. In the 21st century, it is still not possible to practice religion or belief safely.
Think of the 50-70,000 Christians held in North Korea’s labour camps; the Nigerian Christians murdered by Boko Haram; the Christian girls abducted, raped, and forcibly converted in Pakistan; the endless discrimination in so many countries, which morphs into persecution, then into crimes against humanity and in places like Northern Iraq finally into outright genocide.
As a Sovereign entity, your Order has recently joined the International Religious Freedom Alliance, and took park in the Ministerial on Religious Freedom hosted by the UK Government in June, and I understand the Order is considering the appointment of its first Ambassador for Freedom of Religion or Belief. I commend you for this important work.
Unsurprisingly, I want to end by mentioning China.
Unsurprising the CCP has sanctioned me and my family and six other parliamentarians for speaking out against their atrocities against Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, the destruction of Tibetan Buddhism, the forced organ harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners, the destruction of Hong Kong’s democracy and freedoms and the daily threats to the peaceful people of Taiwan.
Since 2001, on over 400 occasions in Parliament I have raised the violation of human rights in the People’s Republic of China. From the 1980s on I have highlighted the appalling one child policy – where forced abortion and sterilisation of women was used to enforce a disastrous policy which made it illegal to have a brother or a sister.
Back in 2008 I drew attention to 8,000 executions in the PRC and the failure to provide benchmarks to demonstrate whether the “golden age” diplomacy which would be promoted so assiduously by the Coalition Government was delivering anything of substance. I specifically cited Mao’s belief that “religion is poison.” In 1980 as a young MP, I had managed to get to Shanghai, where its brave bishop, - later secretly made a Cardinal, in pectore, by Pope John Paul II - Bishop Kung was spending 30 years in Chinese prisons for defying attempts by China's Communist government to control Catholics in the country through the government-approved Catholic Patriotic Association. I met brave underground Catholic and Protestant Christians.
I have also travelled to Western China, Tibet, and Hong Kong to see the situation for myself.
Although willing to see if Deng Xiaoping’s economic reforms and the “two systems one country” agreement for Hong Kong would create new possibilities for religious freedom, political and democratic rights, and the rule of law, I remained sceptical.
It soon became obvious that once Xi Jinping became CCP Chairman, he was more interested in becoming another Mao with the declared aim of extending his CCP ideology worldwide.
On its recent 100th anniversary it was estimated that the CCP has been responsible for killing 50 million people.
Since Xi became the CCP leader in 2013 the human rights of all of China’s citizens have deteriorated further.
Hong Kong’s brave 90-year-old Cardinal Joseph Zen, now arrested and facing fines and further charges that could lead to prison, has frequently warned that the leopard had not changed its spots.
In Hong Kong young and old Catholics, along with many others, are incarcerated in prison or awaiting trial – including the Catholic publisher of Apple Daily Jimmy Lai, and the Catholic father of Hong Kong democracy Martin Lee KC.
Others I also know personally include the young democracy campaigner, Joshua Wong and the acclaimed lawyer and former legislator, Dr. Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee.
The National Security Law in Hong Kong is being used to create outrageous parodies of justice. A conflation of show trails and kangaroo courts have verdict decided in advance by judges who are simply an extension of the CCP. False allegations have become a tool for targeting formerly Hong Kong’s free press, former legislators, and pro-democracy activists whom I met when I was part of the international monitoring team in the last free elections in 2019.
It would be foolish to believe that Cardinal Zen – who has been treated as a troublesome priest in the mould of Thomas Becket - will be treated any differently. The UK Government says, “we are seeing the implications of this sweeping legislation, including the chilling effect on freedom of expression, the stifling of opposition voices, and the criminalising of dissent.”
If you want to know what it is like to be a believer in China ask Archbishop Cui Tai - jailed intermittently since 2007,
Ask the courageous citizen-journalist and lawyer, a Christian woman, Zhang Zhan, who is festering in a CCP prison for seeking the truth of the origins of Covid 19 in Wuhan.
Ask Chinese Christians if they are surprised by the reported plans of the CCP to ‘contextualise’ the Bible to make it more ‘culturally acceptable’ and the requirement for Christian preaching to be adapted to include the core values of socialism. Ask those Christians who have now been subjected to forced indoctrination in mobile ‘re-education camps.’ Or ask Pastor, Wang Yi, of Early Rain Church, imprisoned for refusing to comply. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention have called for his immediate and unconditional release. Ask the 23 million besieged people of Taiwan; ask His Holiness the exiled Dalai Lama. Ask the up to 50 million Chinese Christians who have suffered persecution including the “increasing persecution” of Catholics since 2018, noted by the US Commission of Inquiry on China. Ask the 1 million Uyghurs of Xinjiang incarcerated and used as slave labour - the most glaring example of State-authorised atrocities in recent history. Why are we so indifferent to evidence of the destruction of a people’s identity; of mass surveillance; of forced labour and enforced slavery; the uprooting of people; the destruction of communities and families; the prevention of births; the ruination of cemeteries where generations of loved one had been buried? Escaped Uyghurs attested to degrading treatment, torture, human trafficking, forced labour, forced sterilisation, and forced abortion. The UK’s Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Mirvis describes it as ‘an unfathomable mass atrocity." Don’t we care about people being forcibly indoctrinated to believe that you, your people, your religion, your culture, never existed – and the certainty that through ethno-religious cleansing, you will cease to exist?
Those whose signature is written across these monstrous crimes know the name that describes all of this. The word is Genocide.
How easily we forget.
Recall how, in Europe, bureaucrats identified who was a Jew, confiscated property, used their victims as slave labour, scheduled trains to uproot them from their homes and communities, and deprived them of livelihoods and positions in society; and how German pharmaceutical companies tested drugs on camp prisoners, confiscated personal property, shaved heads, sent hair, jewelry, and other artefacts as trophies, and then made prisoners build their crematoria. All of that is happening today on what the UK has described as “an industrial scale."
In the 1930s political leaders and tainted corporations – and the calculating machines which owned them –danced obligingly around Hitler and didn’t give a tinker’s damn about what was happening to the incarcerated Jews. The Uyghurs are in a comparable position today.
After the War new demons emerged. Incapable of learning the lessons of appeasement the West turned a blind eye to many of the excesses of Stalin and Soviet Communism. The new doctrine was termed Ostpolitik - which sought closer economic and political ties with Soviet Communism and in return agreed to be quiet about the repression of the citizens of those countries.
Ultimately, in the 1980s, it was the spiritual inspiration and heroic leadership of St. John Paul II, trenchantly aligning himself in solidarity with democracy and the rule of law which became the catalyst for peaceful revolution.
Like Cardinal Zen, John Paul had experienced suffering first hand, knew what he was dealing with, and had no intention of becoming one of Lenin’s “useful idiots.” And nor should we.
If you want to understand the situation of the Church in China I commend to you Cardinal Zen’s book, entitled “For Love of My People, I Will Not Remain Silent”. As he risks his freedom can we do any less? (Link HERE)
The denial of religious freedom is always a litmus test of the nature of a society. It is hated by totalitarians, authoritarians, dictators and ideologues and terrorists – from North Korea, to Iran, from Nigeria to China. Conversely, it is also true that where religious freedom is promoted it creates the most stable and economically prosperous societies.
Article 18 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights insists that everyone has the right to believe, not to believe or to change their belief. In so many parts of the world, it is a right that is honoured only in its breach.
The famous Christian axiom, ‘preach all the time, and sometimes even use words’, pertains well to the Order of Malta. The work you do, as members and volunteers, for the most vulnerable people in society is a tremendous witness to our faith that every human being has inherent worth and dignity, but sometimes we must also use words to speak up and defend those rights and inherent dignities. In the spirit of those who resisted in the Great Siege and who fought at Lepanto, I can think of no worthier current and pressing cause, for your noble and illustrious Order than to give voice to all those whose suffer today in domains where this fundamental right of religious freedom is denied.
Thank you for inviting me.
Cardinal Zen's book "For Love of My People I Will Not Remain Silent: On the Situation of the Church in China." is available HERE.
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