The CPP’s persecution of Chinese people with religious beliefs has led to horrific suffering - underlined today by the death and story of a Trappist monk Benedict Chao – and vividly illustrated in the life of an Irish cousin of my mother who in the 1920s and 1930s worked in China for 20 years. He was hunted down by the Chinese Communist Party’s Red Army. He survived but others from his community were murdered. Today, Christians in China continue to be persecuted. Think of Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong’s Stanley Prison xitter.cf/DavidAltonHL/status/20… #FreeJimmyLai Think of the courage and witness of Cardinal Joseph Zen and Think of the incarcerated Zion Church pastors xitter.cf/DavidAltonHL/status/20… Think of Uyghurs – including Uyghur Muslims @MahmutRahima @UyghurCongress Think of Tibetan Buddhists @info_tibet – Think of Falun Gung Practitioners @vicmaywhite . In China, persecution continues – but too many look away or collaborate. What is happening now is simply an extension of the terror unleased by Mao and the CCP, continued through the Cultural Revolution, and to this day. Benedict Chao’s Obituary, published today (August 18th) by The Daily Telegraph, vividly describes the ordeal of Cistercian monks who saw members of their community murdered and tortured. Note how the CCP burned down their monastery in Hebei, tied their wrists with chains or wire, and put them on a forced march of 100 miles. Of the community of 75 monks, 33 died of malnutrition or exhaustion. Benedict Chao’s own story led to escape, exile, and then the re-establishment of a community in what was free Hong Kong. Underlining the nature of historic CCP persecution, are the accounts from the 1920s and 1930s of my mother’s cousin, Fr.Patrick Malone, who was born and is buried in the tiny Mayo village of Aughagower, at the foot of Croagh Patrick. He spent twenty years as a Maryknoll priest – later becoming known for his poetry, prolific writing, photography and amateur film making. What I still find deeply inspiring is his endurance in the face of being hunted down by the CCP’s Red Army, seeing parishioners and colleagues murdered, and insisting that every person has the right to believe or not to believe – and not to be terrorised by a totalitarian regime for doing so. When I was growing up, my late mother spoke warmly about the work and bravery of her relative. She was right to do so and it is wonderful that another of his relatives, Noreen Malone Tunney, has recorded his life and times in her book “Friends You Used To Know.” When you consider the suffering which people of religious belief have experienced in China, it vividly illustrates why the Vatican is wrong to have made a secret Pact with the CCP cruxnow.com/vatican/2026/08/… and why it should reassert what Pope Leo has described as “the supreme value of human rights….universal and inalienable” . Article 18 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights insist that every human being has the right to believe, not to believe, or to change their belief. St.John Paul II said that the Declaration was “a milestone on the long and difficult path of the human race… an expression of intrinsic human dignity, which the international community is called upon to protect and promote.” Article 18 is violated by the CCP every day of every year. The Vatican should not be signing up to secret pacts, discredited Concordats, and offering only silence in the face of grave suffering, even genocide. It should once again be the world voice for religious freedom.  See: davidalton.net/2026/08/18/th… @CardJosephZen @declanganley @RonanMullen @NualaLoan @TomTugendhat @HumanRightsCtte @LordSpeaker @acn_uk @CSW_UK @JubileeC @NDLawRLC @RFInstitute @tozzi_piero @IRFSummit