Vietnam says visit by Vatican envoy has helped mend ties
HANOI -- Vietnam said Wednesday that a visit by a papal envoy
had helped efforts to mend nearly three decades of strained ties
with the Vatican, but stopped short of saying diplomatic relations
could be established in the near future.
Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Holy See's deputy foreign
minister, arrived in Vietnam on October 10 for a six-day visit.
"This was a regular visit to exchange ideas between the two
sides about matters relating to the Vietnamese Catholic Church
and other mutual concerns," Foreign Ministry spokesman Le
Dung told AFP.
Vietnam's tightly controlled state media carried the first mention
of Migliore's trip on Tuesday, which Western diplomats said was
deliberately low-key given the sensitivities surrounding the
Vatican's relationship with Vietnam.
During his visit, Migliore held talks with Deputy Foreign Minister
Le Van Bang and attended the annual conference of
Vietnamese bishops in Hanoi.
The papal envoy also met with ambassadors of European Union
states and traveled to the diocese of Bui Chu in Ninh Binh
Province, south of the capital, and the central city of Danang
where he attended mass.
"Those meetings have helped the two sides better understand
each other's points of view and contributed to promoting
relations between Vietnam and the Vatican," Dung said in a
written reply to questions.
Relations between Vietnam and the Vatican have been tense
ever since the Catholic-dominated South Vietnamese regime
fell to communist forces in April 1975, but have improved
markedly over the past decade.
Nevertheless, the ruling Communist Party still regards Catholics
with some suspicion, fearful that their numbers and allegiance to
the church represents a potential threat to its authority and
influence.
"Although the two sides have not yet established diplomatic
relations regular contact channels between the Vietnamese
Embassy in Rome and the Vatican are maintained," Dung said.
He did not answer a question about whether Hanoi and the
Vatican were moving toward formalizing ties.
Tehran Times - October 24, 2002.
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