This article comes from Chiesa.
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Vietnam: The Price of a Diplomatic Accord
By Sandro Magister
ROME, August 3, 2010 – The desire of the political authorities to supervise and determine the appointment of Catholic bishops is not the sole prerogative of China, as wwww.chiesa showed in a recent article. It is also seen in Vietnam.
The difference is that in Vietnam, this procedure is codified in an accord with the Holy See. When a diocese is vacant, Rome presents three candidates, among whom the Vietnamese authorities exclude the ones they don't like.
This year, one glaring replacement concerned the diocese of Hanoi. Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet (in the photo), who had been in conflict with the government for some time, resigned, although he is only 58 years old, officially for reasons of health, and in his place was installed another bishop seen as more docile toward the regime.
Not only that. A few weeks later, the Holy See announced, in agreement with the Vietnamese authorities, that it will soon appoint a representative of its own with the government of Vietnam. A step interpreted by all as a prelude to the establishment of official diplomatic relations between the Church of Rome and that country.
The proximity of the two events led many to interpret the replacement of the bishop of Hanoi as a price paid by Rome to sweeten the deal. Vietnam is one of the few countries that do not have diplomatic relations with the Holy See, together with China and Saudi Arabia.
In reality, the game is more complex than that. And it is all the more crucial in that it concerns an Asian country in which the presence of the Church is strong and vital. There are more than 6 million Catholics in Vietnam, 8 percent of the 84 million inhabitants. And their numbers are on the rise, with thousands of adult baptisms each year and numerous new religious and monastic vocations.
Moreover, Vietnamese Catholics are very active in the public sphere. But here they meet with the reaction of the communist regime, which already subjects them to stiff limitations.
In recent years, Catholics have intensified their action, always peaceful, consisting of vigils, processions, prayers. But international public opinion is very poorly informed on these, despite the fact that they mobilize hundreds of thousands of people, many more, for example, than the Buddhist processions in Burma a while ago, which were more publicized by far.
To this silence is added the extreme caution with which the Vatican authorities operate. Although it is rich with international information, "L'Osservatore Romano" is completely silent on the public demonstrations by Catholics in Vietnam. In 2008, cardinal secretary of state Tarcisio Bertone wrote to the bishop of Hanoi to keep his faithful in check, in order to avoid harming "the dialogue with the authorities."
For a deeper analysis, here is an article published in the latest issue of "Mondo e Missione," the magazine of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions.
Some time ago www.chiesa published an extensive report from Vietnam by the same author.
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ROME AND HANOI CLOSER TO EACH OTHER? THE STEPS OF PATIENCE
by Lorenzo Fazzini
The long march of the Church in Vietnam took a new step when, at the end of June, Rome and Hanoi agreed that the Vatican may appoint a non-resident representative of its own to the government of that country.
All of this precisely while in Hanoi, the controversy has still not died down over the appointment of the new archbishop of the city, in the person of the current president of the episcopal conference, Pierre Nguyen Van Nhon, in the place of the outgoing Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet, 58, a combative champion of freedom for the Church. In recent years, Kiet had exerted himself personally on the issue of ecclesiastical property confiscated by the government and never returned to the Catholic community. A man of culture, who studied in Paris, Kiet confided to me two years ago, in his office in Hanoi, that the controversy over ecclesiastical property "was not a mere property dispute," but "the litmus test of the violation of human rights in today's Vietnam."
It is too early to say if the agreement is the prelude to a new season, or simple a form of political "etiquette." Let's look at the facts. Last June 26, after a two-day meeting in Rome, the Vatican press office issued an account of the activity of the joint working group of the Holy See and the Vietnamese government, an organism instituted in 2008 as the result of a long journey of reconciliation between the two sides. A route undertaken in the 1990's, advanced by Cardinal Roger Etchegaray with his trips to Vietnam on the tide of the season of "doi moi," the political and economic renewal launched by the sixth congress of the communist party in 1987. A rapprochement sealed by the visit of the president of the republic, Nguyen Minh Triet, to Benedict XVI at the Vatican in 2009, the first in history.
So then, the statement revealed that the working group "agreed that, as a first step, a non-resident representative of the Holy See for Vietnam will be appointed by the pope," in order to "deepen the relations between the Holy See and Vietnam, as well as the bonds between the Holy See and the local Catholic Church." The only blemish on this historic step was highlighted by "Asia News," being a sort of marginalization of the local Vietnamese Church from the dialogue between the state and the Holy See. "The bishops of the 26 Vietnamese dioceses and the episcopal conference had no voice in the meeting of the joint working group of Vietnam and the Holy See," the online agency of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions pointed out in a dispatch commenting on the accord.
But does such a move constitute a sort of preamble in view of official diplomatic relations? The archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, Cardinal Jean Baptiste Pham Minh Man, was rather cautious in his reply when asked about this by "Mondo e Missione": "I don't think that diplomatic relations will move forward rapidly. This will take place when there is unity and peace within the country, among the leaders themselves, and with their main allies."
This statement must be put into context. When the cardinal speaks of "unity and peace in the country," one might think of the case of Kiet, or the decision of the archbishop of Hanoi to resign, a decision that stirred up a hornet's nest of controversy. As for the nod to "unity among the leaders themselves" and with their "main allies," the reference is twofold: above all, to the infighting among the Vietnamese leadership, which is split between a pro-Western faction and another that is still very guarded. The other component is the relationship with China, Hanoi's "main ally." As demonstrated by various observers, the Vietnamese leadership still looks to Bejing in determining its own foreign policy. And relations with the Vatican are not exempt from this.
So prudence is mandatory on what is happening between Rome and Hanoi. This is also confirmed by Joseph Vu Van Thien, bishop of Hai Phong, the place in the north famous for its splendid bay in high demand among foreign tourists, who explains to "Mondo e Missione": "I am sure that the Holy Spirit always intervenes in the Church. The Vatican is very prudent with the decision to appoint a non-permanent delegate for Vietnam. This will be the first step, but also a wise attempt to move forward on this issue. It is a good thing to demand that the Vietnamese government accept the activity of the Catholic Church in various social areas, for example education, a field in which the Church has no schools, except for kindergartens, or charity, seeing that there is no Catholic hospital. Moreover the Church cannot buy land to construct parishes for new communities."
And in fact, in the statement on June 26 the Holy See "asked" the government "that further conditions be established so that the Church may participate effectively in the development of the country, especially in the spiritual, educational, healthcare, social and charitable fields." But that isn't all: as Bishop Van Thien explains, "One very thorny questions has been left out: the restitution to the Church of the property confiscated by the state."
So the fundamental quandary of complete freedom for the Church remains unsolved. The case of Kiet has demonstrated this once again. When the Vatican announced last April the appointment of a coadjutor bishop for Hanoi in the person of Bishop Von Nhonn, until then the bishop of Dalat, seen as more "diplomatic" than Kiet toward the public authorities, and afterward, on May 22, the resignation of Kiet, in Vietnam (and not only there) the search was on for the real reason for this replacement.
Within the local episcopate, Kiet had distinguished himself by his firm and convinced defense of the Church's freedom. In the fall of 2008, Kiet had to remain confined to the archbishop's residence because of the disorder with which gangs of thugs – recruited by the communist party – had reacted to the "prayer rallies." That was the name given to the vigils and processions of Catholics in Hanoi to ask for the restitution to the Church of the site of the former apostolic nunciature in the capital, a site on which the authorities wanted to build a restaurant.
Two agencies that are highly informed on the Vietnamese situation, "Asia News" and "Eglises d'Asie," have given voice in recent weeks to various critical views impugning the resignation of Bishop Kiet as a price paid by the Vatican to obtain diplomatic relations with Vietnam. But an effort to defuse these speculations was made by Cardinal Phan Minh Man and by Bishop Kiet himself. In his "Farewell Letter" to the diocese of Hanoi, which he left on May 12, Kiet specified that he had resigned from the diocese "for the greater good of the Church, and more concretely, of our archdiocese of Hanoi." In the same text, the outgoing archbishop recalls that he had gone through "stormy times" when "our life was threatened." And he considered his departure "in keeping with the will of God," convinced that "it will constitute a good for me and for you." Nonetheless – and this is a fact that deserves attention – in his letter Kiet made no mention of the health reasons commonly adopted to justify his resignation from the leadership of a diocese as important as Hanoi is.
For his part, Cardinal Man, in an interview with "Eglises d'Asie," explained that, after meeting in Rome with officials of the secretariat of state and of Propaganda Fide, he was able to assure the faithful that the departure of Kiet had been a personal choice of the pope "to respect the intrinsic wishes of the one who had made this request," meaning the outgoing prelate. In this way, the cardinal wanted to silence those voices which "attributed the responsibility for what happened to the congregation for the evangelization of peoples. There has been talk of an agreement with the secretariat of state, of the connivance of certain Church figures for reasons of personal interest, of naivete on the part of the Vatican. Because of this, a group of bishops asked me to search out the 'true' truth." Which, in the end, remains the "official" explanation: Kiet resigned for health reasons.
The fact is that the goal of complete religious freedom in the country is still a long way off. In the latest report of the commission for religious liberty of the United States Congress, published last April, Vietnam appears on the list of 13 countries that prompt "particular concern" because of the lack of respect for believers. The issue of diplomatic relations between Hanoi and the Vatican, therefore, cannot help but take this into account, as the bishop of Hai Phong explains with conviction: "I think that the road is still a long one. As a Vietnamese, I truly would like these relations to represent a reason for our people to be proud, but as a Catholic, I also want respect for the conditions for the development of the Church and of human rights. In practice, we hope that there will truly be religious freedom in Vietnam."
As for a trip by Benedict XVI to Vietnam, the idea surfaces from time to time in the mass media, most recently in the monthly magazine "30 Days." But in the light of the political and ecclesial situation in Vietnam, the conjecture appears remote, in spite of the fact that a highly significant historical occasion is taking place this year.
In 2010, in fact, the Vietnamese Church is observing a jubilee year in which two important anniversaries for local Catholics are being celebrated: the country's first two apostolic vicariates were created 350 years ago, while on November 24, 1960, John XXIII established a full-fledged ecclesial hierarchy there. The jubilee year began on November 24, 2009, the feast of the holy martyrs of Vietnam, and will conclude on January 6, 2011. The official opening took place in Hanoi, and the closing will be conducted with a pilgrimage to the national Marian shrine of La Vang, in the center of the country. In November of 2010, a grand ecclesial assembly will be held in Hanoi, with representatives from all of the dioceses.
Precisely the feast of the Epiphany in 2011 had been hypothesized on various sides as the date for a trip by Benedict XVI to Vietnam. But the cardinal of Ho Chi Minh City maintains this is improbable: "Two years ago, we had great hope for a visit from the pope on that date. But in the present situation, it seems to me that this hope is evaporating little by little." He is echoed by the bishop of Hai Phong: "At the current moment, no visit of the pope to Vietnam is expected."
