Hanoi, Vietnam, Feb 23, 2008 / 11:29 am
A Buddhist leader in Vietnam is now asserting a claim to disputed land that once belonged to the papal nuncio but was confiscated by the Vietnam government in 1959.
After a month of Catholic protest and prayer seeking the return of the former nunciature, Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet announced an agreement on February 1 that would restore the property to Catholic ownership.
However, in a February 16 letter to the Vietnamese prime minister Venerable Thich Trung Hau, a leader of the communist-organized Vietnam Buddhist Church, now claims the land belongs to Buddhists.
Venerable Hau said that a pagoda named Bao Thien was built on the land in 1054. In 1883, he claimed, "The French colonists seized [the land] and gave it to Bishop Puginier."