The Secularist Silence on Christ’s Kingship in Jimmy Lai’s Persecution
The EWTN News portal (February 10, 2026) reports on the family reaction to Catholic businessman Jimmy Lai’s 20-year prison sentence by Hong Kong authorities. Claire Lai describes her father’s imprisonment as politically motivated, citing deteriorating health conditions and calling for US-China diplomatic intervention. Sebastien Lai condemns Hong Kong’s legal system destruction, while both children reference their father’s Catholic faith and trust in divine providence. The article emphasizes international political pressure as the solution.
Naturalism Masquerading as Religious Concern
The analysis commits the fundamental error of treating Lai’s persecution as a purely geopolitical conflict rather than a theological crisis. The article reduces Lai’s Catholic identity to a biographical footnote rather than the causa formalis (formal cause) of his persecution. This reflects the conciliar sect’s embrace of Gaudium et Spes‘ naturalism, which Pius IX condemned in the Syllabus of Errors: “The Church ought to be separated from the State, and the State from the Church” (Error #55). By framing Lai’s suffering through secular human rights discourse rather than regnum Christi (the kingship of Christ), the portal continues the neo-church’s betrayal of Catholic social doctrine.
“President Trump has mentioned my father on multiple occasions… Him and his administration have a proven track record of freeing the unjustly detained.”
This statement exemplifies the heretical equivalence between earthly powers and Christ’s eternal reign. The family’s hope rests on Donald Trump’s negotiations rather than the Social Reign of Christ the King as mandated in Pius XI’s Quas Primas: “When once men recognize, both in private and in public life, that Christ is King, society will at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony.” The article’s silence about Lai’s obligation to reject cooperation with communist tyranny constitutes moral cowardice.
The Missing Doctrine of Martyrdom
Nowhere does the analysis mention Lai’s potential path to martyrdom, despite his imprisonment for defending truth against atheistic communism. This omission exposes the conciliar sect’s abandonment of Lamentabili Sane‘s condemnation of modernist Scripture interpretation (Proposition #36). The true Church has always taught with St. Cyprian: “The chair of pestilence cannot claim the authority of the Catholic Church; the Holy Spirit is not there.”
Sebastien Lai’s description of prison conditions – “no access to natural sunlight… fresh air” – inadvertently reveals the satanic nature of regimes rejecting Christ’s sovereignty. As Pius XI warned in Divini Redemptoris: “Communism is intrinsically wrong, and no one who would save Christian civilization may collaborate with it in any undertaking whatsoever.” The family’s diplomatic overtures to Xi Jinping directly violate this injunction.
False Ecumenism in Prison Ministry
The article commits sacrilege by implying Lai receives valid spiritual sustenance from conciliar sect chaplains. Since Paul VI’s invalid Mass reforms, no sacraments exist outside traditional Catholic communities preserving the 1962 liturgy. Claire Lai’s statement about her father being “sustained by prayers” dangerously obscures whether he receives the true Sacraments – a life-or-death distinction condemned by the Council of Trent: “If anyone says that sacramental confession is not necessary to salvation… let him be anathema” (Session XIV, Canon 6).
Conclusion: The Abandoned Social Kingship
This coverage epitomizes the conciliar betrayal of Catholic integralism. Where St. Pius X commanded “instaurare omnia in Christo” (to restore all things in Christ), the neo-church promotes false dialogue with Godless regimes. Until nations submit to Christ’s crown as demanded in Quas Primas, such persecutions will continue. Lai’s true supporters should demand not diplomatic favors, but China’s conversion to the One True Faith – the only solution Pius XI recognized as legitimate for national crises.
Source:
Jimmy Lai’s family responds to 20-year prison sentence (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 10.02.2026