In a historic step, the Hanoi government invited Pope Francis to visit the country. Bishop Anh Tuan, who represented the local Church at the Synod, speaks: «New climate, more trust in us. Thanks also to the solidarity brought to everyone in the Covid-19 pandemic”
They are one of the most vibrant Churches in Asia today, at home and in its many diasporas. Every year, in the footsteps of its martyrs, it gathers tens of thousands of young Catholics for their national meeting. And soon – after decades of great suffering – it could also welcome the visit of a Pontiff. It is the gift received last Christmas by the Catholic community of Vietnam, 8 million faithful in a country of over 100 million inhabitants. Almost fifty years after the communist regime conquered Saigon in 1975, opening a new season of persecution for the local Catholic Church, the authorities in Hanoi have officially invited Pope Francis to travel to the country. They did so with a letter sent by President Vo Van Thuong, who had already visited the Vatican last July. The Pontiff’s health conditions, for the moment, suggest that such a trip is not imminent. But the fact that Vietnam is no longer an impossible frontier for Peter’s successor is already an important symbolic fact. And it is the fruit of a process of rapprochement that has seen great progress in recent times.
In fact, just on Christmas Eve, Pope Francis was able to officially appoint a permanent representative of the Holy See in Vietnam, the Vatican diplomat Monsignor Marek Zalewski, who is also apostolic nuncio to Singapore and will now be able to reside in Hanoi. A diplomatic step resulting from patient bilateral negotiations that have continued for years. And last September, precisely to underline the importance of the new climate that had been created, the Pontiff himself wrote a letter to Vietnamese Catholics in which – evoking “courage in work, tenacity in difficulties, the sense of family and the other natural virtues that Vietnam has been able to demonstrate” in its painful recent history – Francis invited them to “give thanks to God with joy, because God’s love is eternal and is faithful forever”.
How is the Vietnamese Catholic community experiencing all this? And what can his vitality in faith represent for the whole world today? We asked Monsignor Louis Nguyen Anh Tuan, 63, who after having been auxiliary bishop of Ho Chi Minh City (the name by which Saigon is now called) has been bishop of Ha Tinh, in the north of the country, since last year. Monsignor Anh Tuan is one of the two Vietnamese bishops who participated in the Synod in the Vatican last October, an event that the local Catholic Church wanted to accompany by calling for 2024 an entire year dedicated to the theme of the co-responsibility of the laity in life and mission of the Church. «People were very happy to receive Pope Francis’ letter – says Monsignor Anh Tuan -. It was the first time he addressed the faithful directly. Now they are waiting to be able to welcome him to Vietnam: in our country we have been waiting for the Pope for a long time, we have wanted to invite him for several years. Today the government also wants this visit. And Francis himself also said it, during the return journey from Mongolia: “If I can’t come to Vietnam, John XXIV will come”.
Monsignor Anh Tuan expressly speaks of a much improved situation for the Church in Vietnam in recent years. «The joint working group between the Vatican and government representatives worked with great patience – explains the bishop of Ha Tinh -. And the president’s recent visit to the Vatican with the signing of the agreement on the presence of the permanent representative of the Holy See in Hanoi was an important step. We expect it to help grow our pastoral activities. Already in recent years we have been given much more freedom. And I must say that the traumatic event of the pandemic was an opportunity for growth in this sense. Especially in Saigon, which was very hard hit, many priests, nuns and lay people dedicated themselves to assisting the victims and the government recognized this contribution. Trust in us has grown. And I think it was an opportunity to offer a testimony of faith through welfare activities.”
Even in his letter to Vietnamese Catholics, Pope Francis spoke of the need to be “good Christians and good citizens”, the same invitation addressed to Chinese Catholics during the trip to Mongolia. «These are words that our government greatly appreciated – comments the prelate -. Not just Catholics, every Vietnamese must be a good citizen. But for us this is also a way to bear witness to the Gospel. To be good citizens today in Vietnam is to be good disciples of Christ.”
Can this path really be a model for relations between the Vatican and China? «It was the Pope himself who told the Chinese – replies Monsignor Anh Tuan -. I think, however, that the situation in China is very different from that in Vietnam. China is a very large nation, its government is strong, it wants to control everything. The Vietnamese government, on the other hand, needs the world, seeks help from other nations in the economic sphere. It means that today Vietnam is an open country and trusts Catholics. This is not the case in China. The two delegates who came to the Synod had to obtain permission from the government of the People’s Republic of China, but we Vietnamese did not: we can move freely. Until a few years ago, we too had to ask for these permits, but now this is no longer the case: it is a fundamental difference. The Pope, therefore, has indicated us as a model, but it will not be easy for China to follow him due to the different context”.
Development in a country like Vietnam however remains an open challenge: «The gap between the big cities and the rural areas is very large – explains the bishop of Ha Tinh -. In my diocese I see young people leaving for Saigon, Hanoi, Da Nang, Hai Phong, but also for Korea, Japan, Malaysia or the United States and Europe, where they can earn a living. We must also take this into account in pastoral care: we educate children in the faith as a spiritual baggage to carry with them wherever they find themselves in the future. But our Church is still looking for solutions for their pastoral care. We must work more with the Churches of the destination countries, this is also a face of the synodal Church. Because everywhere Vietnamese Catholics gather as a community, they live their faith in a vibrant way: many confirm this. We are trying to address the problem by also sending missionaries with them who are not only for the Vietnamese but at the service of the local Churches where they are inserted. An ad vitam ministry, also made possible by the fact that vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life remain many in Vietnam.”
A wealth that is a sign of the vitality of the Vietnamese Church. «Last year – says the prelate – in my diocese we had 105 candidates for the seminary, but we could have received 30. Some bishops send those they cannot accommodate in other countries such as New Zealand or Australia. Vocations remain many, but more in rural areas than in cities. A social reading of this phenomenon can be given: these are the poorest areas, the Catholic families there are much more devout. But I look at the spiritual meaning: it is the place where the Lord calls us to serve the Kingdom of God. After all, Jesus said it in the Gospel: blessed are you poor, because the Kingdom of God is yours.”