Vatican City, Jun 26, 2010 / 12:08 pm
A communique released by the Holy See's Press Office on Saturday describes meetings that took place between delegations from the Vatican and Vietnam this week. A major outcome of the meetings is that the two sides have agreed to the papal appointment of a "non-resident representative to the Holy See from Vietnam" to take what Vatican spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi called "a very significant step" in building on existing relations.
The second meeting of the Vietnam-Holy See Joint Working Group took place from June 23-24 in the Vatican and follows the first session which took place in Feb. 2009. Co-chairs of the meetings were Monsignor Ettore Balestrero, Under-Secretary for the Holy See’s Relations with States, and Vietnam's Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Cuong.
During this week's meetings, the Holy See's representatives asked for further freedoms for Vietnamese Catholics "so that the Church may participate effectively in the development of the country, especially in the spiritual, educational, healthcare, social and charitable fields."
Although it was not explicitly mentioned in the Vatican's communique about the meeting, the local Church in Vietnam has been peacefully demanding the return of property seized by the communist regime when it took power in 1954. The prayer vigils and sit-ins organized by local Catholics have been met by the police with intimidation tactics, beatings and arrests.