Despite city officals’ requests to stop the protests, church leaders plan their biggest vigil yet for this Friday. Because public protests are generally forbidden, leaders are careful to refer to the gatherings as vigils, rather than demonstrations.
Pham Vu Thuc, a lay Catholic in Vietnam, said globalization had caused the Vietnamese government to become more attentive to global standards of religious freedom.
"Things have changed a lot since we've become more connected with the outside world," she told the Associated Press. "We have the Internet, we've joined the World Trade Organization. Now Vietnam has to follow the rules of the international community."
According to Independent Catholic News, thousands of California Catholics have been holding prayer vigils in solidarity with their fellow Vietnamese Catholics. Two thousand attended a candlelight vigil and Mass at St. Maria Goretti parish in San Jose, California, praying for the Vietnamese Catholics’ effort.
There are six million Catholics in Vietnam, a predominantly Buddhist country.