Roman Catholic Church in Vietnam

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The Roman Catholic Church in Vietnam is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church under the spiritual guidance of the Pope in Rome. With almost 8%, Vietnam is the country with the fourth largest population of Catholics in Asia.

The origins of the Catholic Church in Vietnam go back to the 16th century when European missionaries first came to the country. According to the Vietnamese Bishops' Conference, there were around seven million Catholics, 4,000 priests, 4,500 parishes and 22,000 monks and nuns organized in over 240 orders at the beginning of 2018.

The Holy See was represented in Vietnam from 1925 to 1975 . The Apostolic Delegate in Indochina was the representative of the Holy See until 1964 , after which it was its own Apostolic Nuncio . Since the end of office of the Apostolic Nuncio Henri Lemaître on December 19, 1975, there has been no official representative of the Holy See in Vietnam.

overview

The Catholic faith first came to the country in the 16th century with French, Spanish and Portuguese missionaries. It was expanded under pressure from French colonial rule. After Catholicism was actively fought in the first years of communist rule, the government is now trying to improve relations with the Holy See. Official Vatican delegations came to Vietnam in the 1990s to meet government agencies and visit dioceses. The visit of Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng to Pope Benedict XVI. 2007 has strengthened the hope of a further opening towards greater religious freedom. The Constitution of Vietnam generally provides for freedom of religion / belief. Since religious institutions always compete with the state's influence on the population, religions and their institutions are treated with suspicion by the Communist Party of Vietnam and viewed as “reactionary”.

Vietnam is - after the Philippines - the second largest Catholic community in Southeast Asia with six million believers. The Catholics make up around seven percent of the total population of Vietnam with around 83 million inhabitants. Vietnam has the fourth largest Catholic population in Asia. There are 26 dioceses including three archdioceses.

The first Vietnamese bishop was Jean-Baptiste Nguyễn Bá Tòng , who was ordained titular bishop in 1933 and who two years later became head of the Apostolic Vicariate Phát Diêm . Nguyên Văn Thuân , who was in prison from 1975 to 1988, was cardinal from 2001 . Paul Joseph Cardinal Phạm Đình Tụng was under house arrest from 1963 to 1990 before he became Archbishop of Hanoi in 1994.

Beatifications

In March 2007, Thaddeus Nguyễn Văn Lý (* 1946), a Roman Catholic priest and dissident, was sentenced to eight years in prison by a court in Huế . Nguyen, who had spent 14 of the previous 24 years in prison, was charged with being a founder of the democracy movement Bloc 8406 and a member of the Progressive Party of Vietnam .

On September 16, 2007, the fifth anniversary of Cardinal Nguyễn Văn Thuận's death , the Roman Catholic Church began the process for his beatification . Roman Catholics in Vietnam have welcomed the message of the start of the process for his beatification.

Map of the dioceses and ecclesiastical provinces

Dioceses

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Hội đồng Giám mục Việt Nam: Nhật ký Ad Limina March 5, 2018
  2. ↑ Vatican Radio : Vietnam: Positive response to the Pope meeting on January 31, 2007
  3. ↑ a b “Vietnamese cardinal has died, lived under house arrest for 27 years” , Zenit, February 23, 2009
  4. ^ Church in Need : Country Report Vietnam , viewed on February 19, 2010