Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Hanoi (Agenzia Fides) - Vietnamese Catholics are very happy that for the first time in the history of their country, the prime minister paid an official visit to the Pope in Rome. The meeting between Premier Nguyen Tan Dung and Pope Benedict XVI on 25 January was described by the Holy See as a “an important step towards the normalisation of bilateral relations. Those relations have, over the last few years, made concrete progress opening new spaces of religious freedom for the Catholic Church in Vietnam”. This opinion was re-echoed in Vietnam
Vietnamese Catholics, about 6 million today the largest Catholic community in south east Asia, are overjoyed at the development. “I am delighted that the meeting was a success”, said a Catholic priest in Ho Chi Minh Ville where the Catholic community prayed for a good outcome to the history-making encounter.
When Archbishop Ngo Quang Kiet referred to the meeting in the Vatican in his homily during Mass St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Hanoi he was warmly applauded. A local priest said “the visit was a concrete sign that Vietnam wishes to be a member of the international community at all levels”. “We have new hope to contributing as Catholic to education, healthcare social assistance for the good of the nation”.
The enthusiasm and dynamism of Vietnamese Catholics emerges also from information supplied by the Bishops’ Conference after its Autumn plenary in 2006: church personnel includes 2 cardinals, 43 bishops 3,404 priests, 1,277 seminarians, 2,841 Brothers, 12,000 woman religious, 57,000 catechists. In 2005 the Sacrament of Baptism was 32,000 adults, 108.000 babies and 7,000 children aged 1 - 7 years received the Sacrament of Baptism. Accompanied by special pastoral care 60,000 couples were united in marriage according to the Catholic Rite. The Church in Vietnam - the Bishops’ said - wishes to support the country in this new stage of opening at the political, social, economic, religious level. Vietnam recently joined the World Trade Organisation and it is a member of the Association of South East Asian Countries ASEAN. The Catholic community with its values of freedom, peace, justice, respect for human life and human dignity wishes to be part of this important process. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 31/1/2007 righe 27 parole 279)
