Pope Benedict XVI's new representative to Vietnam is looking forward
to strengthening ties between the Vatican and the local Catholic Church.
A Vatican official said that his appointment “bodes well” for the
future of the Church's sometimes difficult relationship with the
Vietnamese government.
On Jan. 13, Pope Benedict appointed Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli as his non-resident representative to Vietnam.
On the same day, Archbishop Girelli established contact with the
Vietnamese Church and pledged his “availability both in service and
collaboration for the well-being of the Church.”
“I ardently hope to strengthen the bonds of fraternal understanding
and mutual assistance between this Pontifical Representation and your
archdiocese,” Archbishop Girelli said in his letter to Cardinal Jean
Baptiste Pham Minh Man of Ho Chi Minh City.
The archbishop said he hopes to be “an instrument of fellowship
between local priests, Religious and lay people and among the people in
Vietnam.”
The Vatican hopes that his presence will improve the Church's status
in Vietnam, where the Church faces strict government limits on its
participation in public life.
The communist government’s restrictions on the Church earned Vietnam a
special mention in a Jan. 25 Human Rights Watch report for its
“intensifying repression” of religious minorities.
“Vietnam's crackdown on religion is systematic, severe, and getting
worse by the day,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human
Rights Watch.
Catholics, Protestants, Mennonites and Buddhists were all listed as targets of the communist regime.
The Pope announced the creation of the non-resident representative
position to Vietnam during his Jan. 10 “state of the world” address to
Vatican diplomats. He said his new envoy would specifically be “at the
service of religious freedom.”
In the Vatican, the archbishop's nomination is seen as a further step
towards establishing diplomatic relations with the Vietnamese
government.
Vietnam is one of the few nations in the world with a large Catholic
population where the Vatican does not enjoy a concrete working
relationship.
A Vatican official who works closely with the Vietnamese Church and
requested anonymity because of the diplomatic sensitivity of the
situation told CNA that in recent years relations with the government
have “changed quite a bit for the better.”
Archbishop Girelli's appointment “will definitely help the Church in
Vietnam,” he said. The presence of the new envoy, he added, “should go a
long way in further improving the situation.”
The official concluded that Archbishop Girelli's intermediary
function between the Holy See and the Vietnamese government “can only
bode well for the future and definitely is good for the Catholics of
Vietnam.”
In the last month, Archbishop Girelli has transitioned into his
position as the Pope’s top diplomat in Singapore and the apostolic
delegate in Malaysia and Brunei.
He had been the lead diplomatic
representative to Indonesia since 2006.