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VIETNAM/VATICAN

Bishops drop by drop for Vatican Delegation

Rome (Fides) – ‘Yes’ to three bishops, ‘no’ to three others and "at a later date" for diplomatic relations: this is the result of the annual official visit of a Vatican delegation to Vietnam, 11-17 June. "There is no change in their religious policy", a Catholic priest in Saigon tells Fides and, apart from one or two concessions, religious freedom is "zero".

The Holy See delegation, led by Archbishop Celestino Migliore, under secretary for relations with states, and Mgr Barnaba Phuong, an officer of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, left Rome on June 11 to visit Hanoi, Lang Son and Thai Binh. In the capital, after a meeting with the standing committee of the Vietnamese Catholic Bishops’ Conference, they had a meeting with members of the government’s Bureau for Religious Affairs, including the Bureau’s director Mr. Le Quang Vinh.

The Holy See delegation made its customary requests regarding the appointment of bishops, opening of seminaries etc. For years now, the delegation has come from Rome to put these requests to the Vietnamese government. This year the government accepted the following appointments:

- a bishop for Bui Chu diocese in the north, vacant for two years since the death of Bishop Joseph Mary Vu Duy Nhat;

- an auxiliary bishop for the diocese of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City); Saigon has already one auxiliary Aloysius Pham Van Nam, a sick man;

- a coadjutor Bishop for the diocese of Phan Thiet, whose ordinary Bishop Nicholas Huynh Van Nghi is 74 years old.

The Holy See delegation was anxious to appoint three more bishops: a coadjutor bishop for the diocese of Hanoi, whose Archbishop, Cardinal Joseph Pham Dinh Tung is 82 years old; a bishop for Hung Hoa, a diocese in the north east, vacant since 1992; a bishop for Haiphong, vacant for three years. For these appointments no agreement was reached. For Hanoi the Vatican delegation keeps proposing Bishop Paul Nguyen Van Hoa of Nha Trang, but the government keeps refusing.

With regard to establishing diplomatic relations with Holy See, the Vietnamese government promised to "examine the matter" at least two years ago. Vietnamese sources near to the Hanoi government tell Fides that "at the moment the government is too busy on other fronts: stability, development, well being of the people. We hope that in the future something can be achieved and in the meantime dialogue continues".

The Vatican delegation visit was postponed for a few months this year due to changes in Vietnam’s Communist party leadership. In April in fact the Party elected its new secretary general, reformist Nong Duc Manh. This gave rise to a certain degree of optimism among observers for more freedom in Vietnamese society and for religions in Vietnam. Saigon sources tell Fides that although the meeting of the two delegations was marked by "more smiles and less
coldness" than on previous occasions, "religious policy has not changed". A priest said: "This is their tactic: drop by drop, permission by permission. The government accepts a few appointments, but real freedom is zero".

The absence of religious freedom in Vietnam is felt by the country’s Catholics, Protestants and Buddhists. On May 17, Catholic priest Thaddeus Nguyen Van Ly of Huê diocese, was arrested on charges of fomenting disorder. For some time now Rev Van Ly has engaged in a religious freedom campaign. On June 1, a Buddhist monk, venerable Thich Quang Do, of the outlawed Unified Buddhist Church, was put under house arrest. Saigon police intend to prevent him from travelling to Quang Ngai, in north Vietnam where they have isolated the Church’s leader venerable Thich Huyen Quang. The elderly leader, aged 83 and confined without a trial to a small, closed pagoda, suffers from high blood pressure, arthritis and a stomach ulcer. His followers are anxious to take him to Saigon for treatment.

On June 13 and 14 the Vatican delegation concluded its visit to Vietnam traveling to Lang Son diocese in the far north, on the border with China and Thai Binh diocese at the mouth of the Red River. In Lang Son where the bishop was appointed only two years ago, the Church is living a new flourishing, there are even local religious congregations. Most of the 5,000 Catholics are
tribals. Some came from as far as 300 km away to take part in the Mass celebrated by the Pontifical delegation.

The Mass at Thai Binh was celebrated with a crowd of more than 5,000 faithful, under a blazing sun. In cooperation with the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Thai Binh diocese is engaged in a number of social development projects.   (Fides 18/6/2001)