Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung says his government will not accept demands from the Vatican to return confiscated properties to the Catholic Church. Mr Dung made the comments in Budapest Friday, September 18 following trade talks with his Hungarian counterpart Gordon Bajnai, BosNewsLife reports.
Answering questions from BosNewsLife and the Voice of America network (VOA) Prime Minister Dung defended Vietnam’s policy to stop the Catholic Church from taking back church buildings and other properties that were confiscated by the state since 1954.
In recent weeks Vietnamese Catholics have held demonstrations in several parts of the country to demand the return of church properties.
However, Dung said Vietnam would not accept any pressure, including from the Vatican, on this issue.
“All properties in Vietnam belong to the country and the government. And all the property claims have to be carried out according to the law,” he said.
“Every citizen in Vietnam, including religious groups have to respect the law and the constitution of the country,” the prime minister added.
Dung also warned that he “rejects the idea of any religious groups working against the law.”
He warned that, “the property claims of the Vatican go against the Vietnamese constitution and the law.”
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