Vatican, 21 June 2025. Pope Leo Xiv meets with political leaders during the Jubilee of Governments … more
On June 21, 2025, Alex Sobel MP, a member of the United Kingdom Parliament, gave a letter to Pope Leo XIV after a special audience for members of the Interdisciplinary Union (IPU) in the full room of the Vatican, inviting him to withstand Jimmy Lai. Jimmy Lai, a British citizen aged 77, and a dedicated and practical Catholic, was imprisoned by Hong Kong authorities since December 2020. The audience followed the Second Parliamentary Conference on Interfaith Dialogue: Enhancing trust and hugging hope for our common future. The conference, jointly organized by the IPU and the Italian parliament, gathered hundreds of MPs, including speakers, as well as religious leaders, United Nations officials, civil society representatives and international experts from 100 countries. Hope »in the midst of air conditioning, cultivation, politics and religion. During the audience, Pope Leo XIV highlighted the importance of human rights For all: “The universal statement of human rights, approved and proclaimed by the United Nations on December 10, 1948, is now part of the cultural heritage of mankind.
After the public, Pope Leo XIV met with many of the participants. Alex Sobel MP was among those who satisfied the Pope and gave a letter signed by several MPs from the United Kingdom, increasing Jimmy Lai’s poor condition. Among the signatures of the letters were two politicians approved by China to defend themselves on the state of human rights in China and Hong Kong – Lord Alton of Liverpool and Baroness Kennedy of Shaws Lt KC and the last governor of Hong Kong. The Lord Patten of Barnes Kg Ch.
As the letter emphasized, Jimmy Lai, “despite being abused in Hong Kong’s media and relentlessly pursued by hostile authorities with abuse, the values John is guilty of a simple category: talking about democracy and human rights and human rights. that “the values that” John Iitians for Culture during the state.
Jimmy Lai has been imprisoned in isolation for over 1,600 days now and is facing life imprisonment to simply stand by his principles. Given his age and his health, he may not live for many more years. In prison, these few years will mean pain and pain. In addition to his placement in isolation (despite being a threat to anyone), an act that increases the risk of his life, Jimmy Lai, a man with deep Catholic faith, has often denied divine community and is not able to attend the mass services held in prison. There is no reasonable excuse for this denial and is equivalent to inhumane and degraded treatment.
The letter calls on Pope Leo Xiv to “raise Jimmy Lai’s case with the Chinese authorities and seek spiritual help for him, he must be allowed to see a priest, take the Divine Communion and attend the mass without further obstacle.” The British MPs also asked Pope Leo Xiv to meet with his son Jimmy, Sebastien Lai, to give him a blessing and encouragement to continue his struggle for his father’s freedom.
Pope Leo XIV has not yet responded to the letter and invitations to restore human dignity that Jimmy Lai lacks every day, with inhumane treatment in prison – the human dignity that Pope Leo XIV has created in the recent audience. Meanwhile, Jimmy Lai is still imprisoned, mainly in isolation, while awaiting the outcome of a long -term trial for the destruction and conspiracy to concentrate with foreign powers in the context of the controversial Beijing National Security Act.
