Hanoi, May. 26, 2008 (CWNews.com) - A Vatican delegation will be in Hanoi next month for discussions with the Communist government leadership, with a series of property disputes likely to be high on the list of topics discussed.
Tensions between the Church and Hanoi government have reached new levels in recent months, with a series of bold protests by lay Catholics over the disposition of properties that have been seized from the Church by the government.
Msgr. Barnabe Nguyen Van Phuong, who heads the Asian-affairs section for the Congregation for Evangelization, told the VietCatholic news agency that the claims on church properties would be on the agenda when the Vatican delegation travels to Vietnam.
This will be the 15th in a series of visits by officials of the Holy See, aimed to improved relations with Vietnam. Although the Vatican has not had diplomatic relations with Vietnam since 1975, the diplomatic exchanges have produced some improvement in relations, with Hanoi allowing greater latitude for Church freedom.
The appointment of bishops remains one of the thorniest issues under discussion, with the officially atheist Communist government refusing to yield control over appointments and the Vatican loath to concede its traditional right to name Church leaders. This conflict has resulted in long delays in the appointment of bishops and diocesan administrators “This has always been a central point on the agenda in the bilateral meetings between the Vatican and the Vietnam government,” said Msgr. Nguyen.
The Vatican delegation will visit Our Lady of La Vang Shrine, the leading religious Catholic shrine in Vietnam. Local government leaders have promised that the land that surrounds the basilica-- seized by the government in 1975-- will be returned to Church ownership. Tensions between Vietnamese Catholics and government leaders flared last December, when thousands of Catholics began joining daily prayer vigils outside the building that once housed the office of the apostolic nuncio in Hanoi. After an intervention by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone (bio - news), the protests were ended, in exchange for a government promise that the property would be returned. To date, however, there has been no move to restore Catholic control.
Similar protests over properties formerly controlled by the Church have broken out in another Hanoi parish and in the towns of Ha Dong, Ho Chi Minh city (formerly Saigon), and Vinh Long.
Tensions between the Church and Hanoi government have reached new levels in recent months, with a series of bold protests by lay Catholics over the disposition of properties that have been seized from the Church by the government.
Msgr. Barnabe Nguyen Van Phuong, who heads the Asian-affairs section for the Congregation for Evangelization, told the VietCatholic news agency that the claims on church properties would be on the agenda when the Vatican delegation travels to Vietnam.
This will be the 15th in a series of visits by officials of the Holy See, aimed to improved relations with Vietnam. Although the Vatican has not had diplomatic relations with Vietnam since 1975, the diplomatic exchanges have produced some improvement in relations, with Hanoi allowing greater latitude for Church freedom.
The appointment of bishops remains one of the thorniest issues under discussion, with the officially atheist Communist government refusing to yield control over appointments and the Vatican loath to concede its traditional right to name Church leaders. This conflict has resulted in long delays in the appointment of bishops and diocesan administrators “This has always been a central point on the agenda in the bilateral meetings between the Vatican and the Vietnam government,” said Msgr. Nguyen.
The Vatican delegation will visit Our Lady of La Vang Shrine, the leading religious Catholic shrine in Vietnam. Local government leaders have promised that the land that surrounds the basilica-- seized by the government in 1975-- will be returned to Church ownership. Tensions between Vietnamese Catholics and government leaders flared last December, when thousands of Catholics began joining daily prayer vigils outside the building that once housed the office of the apostolic nuncio in Hanoi. After an intervention by the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone (bio - news), the protests were ended, in exchange for a government promise that the property would be returned. To date, however, there has been no move to restore Catholic control.
Similar protests over properties formerly controlled by the Church have broken out in another Hanoi parish and in the towns of Ha Dong, Ho Chi Minh city (formerly Saigon), and Vinh Long.