A reading from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles
Acts 4:13-21
Observing the boldness of Peter and John
and perceiving them to be uneducated, ordinary men,
the leaders, elders, and scribes were amazed,
and they recognized them as the companions of Jesus.
Then when they saw the man who had been cured standing there with them,
they could say nothing in reply.
So they ordered them to leave the Sanhedrin,
and conferred with one another, saying,
“What are we to do with these men?
Everyone living in Jerusalem knows that a remarkable sign
was done through them, and we cannot deny it.
But so that it may not be spread any further among the people,
let us give them a stern warning
never again to speak to anyone in this name.”
So they called them back
and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
Peter and John, however, said to them in reply,
“Whether it is right in the sight of God
for us to obey you rather than God, you be the judges.
It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.”
After threatening them further,
they released them,
finding no way to punish them,
on account of the people who were all praising God
for what had happened.
From the Gospel according to Mark
16:9-15
When Jesus had risen, early on the first day of the week,
he appeared first to Mary Magdalene,
out of whom he had driven seven demons.
She went and told his companions who were mourning and weeping.
When they heard that he was alive
and had been seen by her, they did not believe.
After this he appeared in another form
to two of them walking along on their way to the country.
They returned and told the others;
but they did not believe them either.
But later, as the Eleven were at table, he appeared to them
and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart
because they had not believed those
who saw him after he had been raised.
He said to them, “Go into the whole world
and proclaim the Gospel to every creature.”
“Go into the whole world; proclaim the Good News to every creature” (Mk 16:15). This is the missionary dimension of faith. Either faith has a missionary dimension, or it is not faith. Faith is not something only for myself, so that I may grow with faith: this is a gnostic heresy. Faith always leads you to come out of yourself, to go out. The transmission of faith; faith must be transmitted, it must be offered, above all by witness: “Go, so that the people see how you live” (see v. 15). (…) Faith necessarily takes you out, it leads you to give it, because essentially faith must be transmitted. It is not something quiet. (…) Faith is social, it is for everyone. “Go into the whole world; proclaim the Good News to every creature” (Mk 16:15). This does not mean becoming someone who proselytises, as if you were recruiting people to a football team or to a non-profit organisation. It means that you show the revelation, so that the Holy Spirit might work in people through witness: as a witness, with service. Service is a way of life. If I say that I am a Christian, but I live like a pagan, that doesn’t work, that doesn’t convince anyone. If I say that I am a Christian, and I live like a Christian, this attracts. It is witness. (Pope Francis – Homily Santa Marta, 25 April 2020)
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![Congressman criticizes Vatican for hosting China’s top organ transplant official in 2017 – #Catholic – A New Jersey congressman sharply criticized the Vatican for giving a platform to one of Beijing’s top transplant officials at a 2017 international conference on organ trafficking.During an April 9 event hosted by the Hudson Institute highlighting new evidence of forced organ harvesting in China, Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, called out the Vatican for hosting China’s leading transplant official at the Summit on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism in 2017. Smith was a panelist at the Hudson Institute event with Ethan Gutmann, the author of a new book, “The Xinjiang Procedure,” which presents evidence of forced organ harvesting targeting Uyghur and other Turkic Muslim communities on an industrial scale in China.Gutmann testified during the panel about his findings while on an undercover mission where he secretly interviewed former detainees of Chinese concentration camps, whose testimonies included accounts of gang rape, water torture, and forced organ harvesting.“I’ve argued with [the Vatican],” Smith said. “If you’re bringing in people who are doing terrible evil, you’re giving them a platform.”Participants at the 2017 Vatican conference, organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, signed a statement agreeing to unite in fighting the crime of organ trafficking, submitting 11 proposals for implementation by health care and law enforcement professionals around the world. China’s participation in the conference was the source of controversy at the time, as the advocacy group Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting said in a statement that there was “no evidence that past practices of forced organ harvesting have ended” in China.The group further criticized the Vatican’s decision to invite Huang Jiefu, Beijing’s top official on transplants, saying that it would compromise the conference’s image and objectives, when there was not sufficient evidence that China was changing its ways.Human rights advocate and Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Nina Shea, who also spoke at the April 9 event, echoed Smith’s censure of the Vatican for hosting Jiefu. She told EWTN News the Vatican’s first point of leverage to help prevent organ harvesting is to “start by doing no harm.”“What they did was host the public face of the organ transplant sector of China at their conference in Rome,” she said, describing Jiefu as a “longtime member of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.”Shea said the Vatican conference helped “open doors” for Jiefu with the World Health Organization (WHO), after which she said he proposed a “task force for best practices on organ transplants.”“That’s part of his propaganda,” she said. “The Vatican thought that was a great idea and introduced him to WHO, and when he proposed it, they said, ‘Yes, at the Vatican’s urging we’ll create a task force and you’re on it.’”“So, they appointed this Chinese Communist Party Central Committee member, who is the vice minister of health and the public face of their organ transplant sector, to this task force,” she said. “Needless to say, the task force has done nothing," she said. “I think Pope Leo should pronounce against forced organ harvesting. Itʼs a great human rights issue,” she said. “It hasnʼt been addressed on the world stage, and the pope has the platform to do that and the moral authority to do it."Legislative efforts in the U.S.On a policy level, Smith emphasized the need to “seriously criminalize” forced organ harvesting to combat the practice on an international level. He also lamented that the Senate failed to pass the Stop Organ Harvesting Act of 2023 after it passed in the House with nearly unanimously.The congressman warned that the latest attempt to pass legislation with the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2025 could face the same fate if the Senate fails to lend its support. The current legislation, he noted, would require the president to impose sanctions on individuals and entities involved in forced organ harvesting and authorize the State Department to revoke passports of individuals found complicit in the practice. “This would have a chilling effect on [organ] brokers,” Smith said.](https://unitedyam.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/congressman-criticizes-vatican-for-hosting-chinas-top-organ-transplant-official-in-2017-catholic-a-new-jersey-congressman-sharply-criticized-the-vatican-for-giving-a-platform-to-one-of-b.jpg "Congressman criticizes Vatican for hosting China’s top organ transplant official in 2017 – #Catholic – A New Jersey congressman sharply criticized the Vatican for giving a platform to one of Beijing’s top transplant officials at a 2017 international conference on organ trafficking.During an April 9 event hosted by the Hudson Institute highlighting new evidence of forced organ harvesting in China, Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, called out the Vatican for hosting China’s leading transplant official at the Summit on Organ Trafficking and Transplant Tourism in 2017. Smith was a panelist at the Hudson Institute event with Ethan Gutmann, the author of a new book, “The Xinjiang Procedure,” which presents evidence of forced organ harvesting targeting Uyghur and other Turkic Muslim communities on an industrial scale in China.Gutmann testified during the panel about his findings while on an undercover mission where he secretly interviewed former detainees of Chinese concentration camps, whose testimonies included accounts of gang rape, water torture, and forced organ harvesting.“I’ve argued with [the Vatican],” Smith said. “If you’re bringing in people who are doing terrible evil, you’re giving them a platform.”Participants at the 2017 Vatican conference, organized by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, signed a statement agreeing to unite in fighting the crime of organ trafficking, submitting 11 proposals for implementation by health care and law enforcement professionals around the world. China’s participation in the conference was the source of controversy at the time, as the advocacy group Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting said in a statement that there was “no evidence that past practices of forced organ harvesting have ended” in China.The group further criticized the Vatican’s decision to invite Huang Jiefu, Beijing’s top official on transplants, saying that it would compromise the conference’s image and objectives, when there was not sufficient evidence that China was changing its ways.Human rights advocate and Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Nina Shea, who also spoke at the April 9 event, echoed Smith’s censure of the Vatican for hosting Jiefu. She told EWTN News the Vatican’s first point of leverage to help prevent organ harvesting is to “start by doing no harm.”“What they did was host the public face of the organ transplant sector of China at their conference in Rome,” she said, describing Jiefu as a “longtime member of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.”Shea said the Vatican conference helped “open doors” for Jiefu with the World Health Organization (WHO), after which she said he proposed a “task force for best practices on organ transplants.”“That’s part of his propaganda,” she said. “The Vatican thought that was a great idea and introduced him to WHO, and when he proposed it, they said, ‘Yes, at the Vatican’s urging we’ll create a task force and you’re on it.’”“So, they appointed this Chinese Communist Party Central Committee member, who is the vice minister of health and the public face of their organ transplant sector, to this task force,” she said. “Needless to say, the task force has done nothing,\" she said. “I think Pope Leo should pronounce against forced organ harvesting. Itʼs a great human rights issue,” she said. “It hasnʼt been addressed on the world stage, and the pope has the platform to do that and the moral authority to do it.\"Legislative efforts in the U.S.On a policy level, Smith emphasized the need to “seriously criminalize” forced organ harvesting to combat the practice on an international level. He also lamented that the Senate failed to pass the Stop Organ Harvesting Act of 2023 after it passed in the House with nearly unanimously.The congressman warned that the latest attempt to pass legislation with the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2025 could face the same fate if the Senate fails to lend its support. The current legislation, he noted, would require the president to impose sanctions on individuals and entities involved in forced organ harvesting and authorize the State Department to revoke passports of individuals found complicit in the practice. “This would have a chilling effect on [organ] brokers,” Smith said.")
