Comment of Hanoi Archbishop was quoted out of the context with an intention to interpret his remarks in the opposite direction. That’s what a Cardinal told his flock.
Cardinal Jean Baptiste Pham Minh Man, archbishop of Saigon, in a letter dated Monday Sep. 22 to all priests, religious and faithful denounced another evidence of state media’s dishonesty.
“Reporting on the statement of Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet of Hanoi during a meeting with the People’s Committee of Hanoi on Sep. 20, 2008, several organs of government-controlled media quoted his remarks out of context and interpreted his comment in the opposite direction,” he wrote.
The Cardinal went on presenting the full text of Hanoi Archbishop’s statement and underlined the text of Hanoi archbishop that was distorted by state media.
Archbishop Joseph Ngo commented that: “Travelling overseas often, we feel humiliated to be carrying a Vietnamese passport because wherever we go, we are always examined scrupulously [by customs agents]. We are really sad. We desire our country becomes stronger so that we can be like Japanese citizens who can pass through everywhere without being inspected. Koreans already enjoy that. We hope Vietnam becomes a strong, united country, so that we are respected everywhere we go."
Media controlled by state on Monday have simultaneously launched attacks against Hanoi Archbishop. They have quoted only the phase “we feel humiliated to be carrying a Vietnamese passport” and repeatedly called into question his patriotism in an obvious attempt to deceit public opinion and to put great pressures on Catholics to halt their massive protests that have broken out after the government betrays its promise made on early of February.
It was supposed that the government would return Hanoi nunciature through many steps. However, it managed to delay returning the property through various bureaucratic maneuvers. All in a sudden, on Friday Sep. 19, the government announced the nunciature would be demolished for a playground and immediately carried out with the back of its armed forces. This action is obviously an insult to the legitimate aspirations of the Hanoi Catholic community.
Facing a tidal wave of false accusations, distortions, insults, and intimidations against Catholics furnished by the state-run media, the Cardinal asked his flock “to pray more intensely for the truth to librate us from evil... and for the national meeting of Bishops.” On Monday, Vietnamese Bishops convened to Xuan Loc to discuss many issues of the Church in Vietnam. Church property and the relationship with the goverment are among their outstanding concerns.
On Monday, Hanoi archbishop’s office also released a letter of protest against Hanoi television.
“The comment of Hanoi Archbishop was tailored and left out of context in order to lie and falsely accuse the Archbishop before carrying out comments insulting him.”
“We, the college of priests of archdiocese of Hanoi, and all those who attended the meeting [with the People’s Committee of Hanoi on Sep. 20, 2008] confirmed that the comment of our archbishop was only to express his desire for dialogue, for the building up of a united nation in order to develop our country into a strong one like others in the area,” wrote Fr. Pham Anh Dung, vice chancellor of archbishop’s office, who signed the letter.
Stating that the archbishop’s comment during the meeting was fully recorded, Fr. Anthony Pham requested an apology from the television, and an immediate end of the campaign of false accusations, distortions, insults, and intimidations against Catholics.
The distortion of Hanoi’s archbishop’s comment is only another evidence of a campaign of disinformation furnished by state run media. The campaign has been dragging for more than a month targeting Catholics who are demonstrating for the return of confiscated church properties have been exposed for inventing false Catholic critics of the protesters. The media have attributed manufactured quotations to actual Catholics and have presented a beggar as a critical Catholic parishioner. They have even gone so far as to name a man who has been dead for several years as a detractor.
In an incident, Judge Vu Kim My, a Catholic prosecutor in the Diocese of Phat Diem, accused a Sep. 15 article in the People’s Police newspaper of putting words in his mouth about the Thai Ha Church property dispute.
“I confirm that I never said anything relating to Thai Ha, I never asked for the punishment [against the protestors], I did not mention God in my answers,” he said.
Judge Vu claimed that the newspaper reporter only asked him two questions, both of which related to general knowledge of the law.
“The rest of the report was added by them,” he charged.
A falsehood in an August 20 article in the New Hanoi newspaper has also been exposed. The paper reported that Nguyen Quoc Cuong of Dai On parish accused the protestors at Thai Ha Church of “not following the Catholic Catechism.”
The Archdiocese of Hanoi made inquiries about the supposed parishioner, only to discover that he was invented by the newspaper.
“He simply does not exist in our parish,” a parish council member of Dai On parish said.
The New Hanoi newspaper also introduced Nguyen Duc Thang as a parishioner of Thach Bich parish, depicting him as a dissident strongly opposed to the Catholic protests.
“Yes, he was a Catholic in my parish,” said Fr. Nguyen Khac Que, the pastor of Thach Bich.
The priest added: “he already died a few years ago. I have no idea how a dead person could answer an interview of the paper.”
Such incidents only add to the series of deceptive reports on the demonstrations.
On Sep. 4 at Thai Ha Monastery, cameramen from Hanoi Television interviewed an elderly person who was introduced as a Catholic. When demonstrators asked him his Christian name, he admitted he was a beggar and said the cameramen “had given me some money to act and speak as instructed.”
The Voice of Vietnam, the state’s official radio network, reported that Father Nguyen Van Khanh who is the pastor of Gia Nghia parish (Buon Me Thuot diocese) opposed the Thai Ha protests and praised the land policy of the government. When contacted by Dalat diocese, he insisted that no one had interviewed him.
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| Massive protest on Sunday |
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| Anti-riot police at Hanoi nunciature |
“Reporting on the statement of Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet of Hanoi during a meeting with the People’s Committee of Hanoi on Sep. 20, 2008, several organs of government-controlled media quoted his remarks out of context and interpreted his comment in the opposite direction,” he wrote.
The Cardinal went on presenting the full text of Hanoi Archbishop’s statement and underlined the text of Hanoi archbishop that was distorted by state media.
Archbishop Joseph Ngo commented that: “Travelling overseas often, we feel humiliated to be carrying a Vietnamese passport because wherever we go, we are always examined scrupulously [by customs agents]. We are really sad. We desire our country becomes stronger so that we can be like Japanese citizens who can pass through everywhere without being inspected. Koreans already enjoy that. We hope Vietnam becomes a strong, united country, so that we are respected everywhere we go."
Media controlled by state on Monday have simultaneously launched attacks against Hanoi Archbishop. They have quoted only the phase “we feel humiliated to be carrying a Vietnamese passport” and repeatedly called into question his patriotism in an obvious attempt to deceit public opinion and to put great pressures on Catholics to halt their massive protests that have broken out after the government betrays its promise made on early of February.
It was supposed that the government would return Hanoi nunciature through many steps. However, it managed to delay returning the property through various bureaucratic maneuvers. All in a sudden, on Friday Sep. 19, the government announced the nunciature would be demolished for a playground and immediately carried out with the back of its armed forces. This action is obviously an insult to the legitimate aspirations of the Hanoi Catholic community.
Facing a tidal wave of false accusations, distortions, insults, and intimidations against Catholics furnished by the state-run media, the Cardinal asked his flock “to pray more intensely for the truth to librate us from evil... and for the national meeting of Bishops.” On Monday, Vietnamese Bishops convened to Xuan Loc to discuss many issues of the Church in Vietnam. Church property and the relationship with the goverment are among their outstanding concerns.
On Monday, Hanoi archbishop’s office also released a letter of protest against Hanoi television.
“The comment of Hanoi Archbishop was tailored and left out of context in order to lie and falsely accuse the Archbishop before carrying out comments insulting him.”
“We, the college of priests of archdiocese of Hanoi, and all those who attended the meeting [with the People’s Committee of Hanoi on Sep. 20, 2008] confirmed that the comment of our archbishop was only to express his desire for dialogue, for the building up of a united nation in order to develop our country into a strong one like others in the area,” wrote Fr. Pham Anh Dung, vice chancellor of archbishop’s office, who signed the letter.
Stating that the archbishop’s comment during the meeting was fully recorded, Fr. Anthony Pham requested an apology from the television, and an immediate end of the campaign of false accusations, distortions, insults, and intimidations against Catholics.
The distortion of Hanoi’s archbishop’s comment is only another evidence of a campaign of disinformation furnished by state run media. The campaign has been dragging for more than a month targeting Catholics who are demonstrating for the return of confiscated church properties have been exposed for inventing false Catholic critics of the protesters. The media have attributed manufactured quotations to actual Catholics and have presented a beggar as a critical Catholic parishioner. They have even gone so far as to name a man who has been dead for several years as a detractor.
In an incident, Judge Vu Kim My, a Catholic prosecutor in the Diocese of Phat Diem, accused a Sep. 15 article in the People’s Police newspaper of putting words in his mouth about the Thai Ha Church property dispute.
“I confirm that I never said anything relating to Thai Ha, I never asked for the punishment [against the protestors], I did not mention God in my answers,” he said.
Judge Vu claimed that the newspaper reporter only asked him two questions, both of which related to general knowledge of the law.
“The rest of the report was added by them,” he charged.
A falsehood in an August 20 article in the New Hanoi newspaper has also been exposed. The paper reported that Nguyen Quoc Cuong of Dai On parish accused the protestors at Thai Ha Church of “not following the Catholic Catechism.”
The Archdiocese of Hanoi made inquiries about the supposed parishioner, only to discover that he was invented by the newspaper.
“He simply does not exist in our parish,” a parish council member of Dai On parish said.
The New Hanoi newspaper also introduced Nguyen Duc Thang as a parishioner of Thach Bich parish, depicting him as a dissident strongly opposed to the Catholic protests.
“Yes, he was a Catholic in my parish,” said Fr. Nguyen Khac Que, the pastor of Thach Bich.
The priest added: “he already died a few years ago. I have no idea how a dead person could answer an interview of the paper.”
Such incidents only add to the series of deceptive reports on the demonstrations.
On Sep. 4 at Thai Ha Monastery, cameramen from Hanoi Television interviewed an elderly person who was introduced as a Catholic. When demonstrators asked him his Christian name, he admitted he was a beggar and said the cameramen “had given me some money to act and speak as instructed.”
The Voice of Vietnam, the state’s official radio network, reported that Father Nguyen Van Khanh who is the pastor of Gia Nghia parish (Buon Me Thuot diocese) opposed the Thai Ha protests and praised the land policy of the government. When contacted by Dalat diocese, he insisted that no one had interviewed him.