Roman Catholicism in Vietnam
Encyclopedia
The Roman Catholic Church in Vietnam is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope
and curia
in Rome. Vietnam
has the fifth largest Catholic population in Asia, after the Philippines
, India, China
and Indonesia
.
By the information of Catholic Hierarchy Catalog, there are 5,658,000 Catholics in Vietnam, representing 6.87% of the total population. There are 26 diocese
s (including three archdioceses) with 2228 parishes and 2668 priests.
The first Catholic missionaries
visited Vietnam from Portugal at the beginning of the 16th century. The earliest missions did not bring very impressive results. Only after the arrival of Jesuits in the first decades of the 17th century did Christianity begin to establish its positions within the local population. Between 1627 and 1630 Fathers Alexander de Rhodes
and Antoine Marquez of the French Province converted over 6,000.
In the 17th century, de Rhodes created a written system of the Vietnamese language largely using the Roman alphabet with added diacritic
markings, based on the work of earlier Portuguese missionaries. This system continues to be used today, and is called Quốc Ngữ (literally "national language").
played a key role in Vietnamese history towards the end of the 18th century. He had come to southern Vietnam to proselytise. In 1777, the Tây Sơn brothers killed the ruling Nguyễn lords, and Nguyễn Ánh was the most senior member of the family to have survived, and he fled into the Mekong Delta
region in the far south, where he met Pigneau. Pigneau then became Nguyễn Ánh's confidant. Pigneau hoped that by playing a substantial role in a Nguyễn Ánh victory, he would be in position to lever important concessions for the Catholic Church in Vietnam, helping its expansion in South East Asia. From then on he became a politician and military strategist.
At one stage during the civil war, the Nguyễn were in trouble, so Pigneau was dispatched to seek French aid. He was able to recruit a band of French volunteers. Pigneau and other missionaries acted as business agents for Nguyễn Ánh, purchasing munitions and other military supplies. Pigneau also served as a military advisor and de facto foreign minister until his death in 1799. From 1794, Pigneau took part in all campaigns. He organized the defense of Dien Khanh
when it was besieged by a numerically vastly superior Tây Sơn army in 1794. Upon Pigneau's death, Gia Long's funeral oration described the Frenchman as "the most illustrious foreigner ever to appear at the court of Cochinchina".
By 1802, when Nguyễn Ánh conquered all of Vietnam and declared himself Emperor Gia Long, the Roman Catholic Church in Vietnam had 3 dioceses as follows:
Gia Long tolerated the Catholic faith of his French allies and permitted unimpeded missionary activities out of respect to his benefactors. The missionary activity was dominated by the Spanish in Tonkin and French in the central and southern regions. At the time of his death, there were six European bishops in Vietnam. The population of Christians was estimated at 300,000 in Tonkin and 60,000 in Cochinchina.
had already died, it was assumed that Cảnh's son would succeed Gia Long as emperor, but in 1816 Nguyễn Phúc Đảm
, the son of Gia Long's second wife, was appointed instead. Gia Long chose him for his strong character and his deeply conservative aversion to Westerners, whereas Cảnh's lineage had converted to Catholicism and were reluctant to maintain their Confucian traditions such as ancestor worship.
Lê Văn Duyệt
and many of the high-ranking mandarins opposed Gia Long's succession plan. Duyệt and many of his southern associates tended to be favourable to Christianity, and supported the installation of Nguyễn Cảnh's descendants on the throne. As a result, Duyet was held in high regard by the Catholic community. According to the historian Mark McLeod, Duyet was more concerned with military rather than social needs, and was thus more interested in maintaining strong relations with Europeans so that he could acquire weapons from them, rather than worrying about the social implications of westernization. Gia Long was aware of the fact that Catholic clergy were opposed to the installation of Minh Mạng because they favoured a Catholic monarch (Canh's son) that would grant them favours.
Minh Mạng began to place restrictions on Catholicism. He enacted "edicts of interdiction of the Catholic religion" and condemned Christianity as a "heterodox doctrine". He saw the Catholics as a possible source of division, especially as the missionaries were arriving in Vietnam in ever-increasing numbers.
Duyet protected Vietnamese Catholic converts and westerners from Minh Mạng's policies by disobeying the emperor's orders.
Minh Mạng issued an imperial edict, that ordered missionaries to leave their areas and move to the imperial city, ostensibly because the palace needed translators, but in order to stop the Catholics from proselytizing. Whereas the government officials in central and northern Vietnam complied, Duyệt disobeyed the order and Minh Mạng was forced to bide his time. The emperor began to slowly wind back the military powers of Duyệt, and increased this after his death.
Minh Mạng ordered the posthumous humiliation of Duyệt. This resulted in the desecration of his tomb, the execution of sixteen relatives, and the arrests of his colleagues.
Duyệt's son Lê Văn Khôi
, along with the southerners who had seen their and Duyệt's power curtailed, revolted against Minh Mạng.
Khôi declared himself in favour of the restoration of the line of Prince Cảnh. This choice was designed to obtain the support of Catholic missionaries and Vietnamese Catholics, who had been supporting the Catholic line of Prince Cảnh. Lê Văn Khôi further promised to protect Catholicism.
In 1833, the rebels took over southern Vietnam, with Catholics playing a large role. 2,000 Vietnamese Catholic troops fought under the command of Father Nguyễn Văn Tâm.
The rebellion was suppressed after three years of fighting. The French missionary Father Joseph Marchand
, of the Paris Foreign Missions Society
was captured in the siege, and had been supporting Khoi, and asked for the help of the Siamese army, through communications to his counterpart in Siam, Father Taberd
. This revealed the strong Catholic involvement in the revolt. Father Marchand was executed.
The failure of the revolt had a disastrous effect on the Christians of Vietnam. New restrictions against Christians followed, and demands were made to find and execute remaining missionaries. Anti-Catholic edicts to this effect were issued by Minh Mạng in 1836 and 1838. In 1836-1837 six missionaries were executed: Ignacio Delgado, Dominico Henares, Jean-Charles Cornay
, José Fernández, François Jaccard, and Bishop Pierre Borie
.
and South Vietnam
. In a country where surveys of the religious composition estimated the Buddhist majority to be between 70 and 90 percent, President Ngo Dinh Diem
's policies generated claims of religious bias. As a member of the Catholic Vietnamese minority, he is widely regarded by historians as having pursued pro-Catholic policies that antagonized many Buddhists. Specifically, the government was regarded as being biased towards Catholics in public service and military promotions, as well as the allocation of land, business favors and tax concessions. Diem also once told a high-ranking officer, forgetting that he was a Buddhist, "Put your Catholic officers in sensitive places. They can be trusted." Many officers in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
converted to Catholicism in the belief that their military prospects depended on it. Additionally, the distribution of firearms to village self-defense militias intended to repel Vietcong guerrillas saw weapons only given to Catholics. Some Catholic priests ran their own private armies, and in some areas forced conversions, looting, shelling and demolition of pagodas occurred. Some villages converted en masse in order to receive aid or avoid being forcibly resettled by Diem's regime. The Catholic Church was the largest landowner in the country, and its holdings were exempt from reform and given extra property acquisition rights, while restrictions against Buddhism remained in force. Catholics were also de facto exempt from the corvée
labor that the government obliged all citizens to perform; U.S. aid was disproportionately distributed to Catholic majority villages. In 1959, Diem dedicated his country to the Virgin Mary.
The white and gold Vatican flag was regularly flown at all major public events in South Vietnam. The newly constructed Hue
and Dalat
universities were placed under Catholic authority to foster a Catholic-influenced academic environment. In May 1963, in the central city of Huế
, where Diem's elder brother Ngo Dinh Thuc was the archbishop, Buddhists were prohibited from displaying Buddhist flags during Vesak
celebrations. A few days earlier, Catholics were allowed to fly religious flags at a celebration in honour of Thuc. This led to a protest against the government, which was suppressed by Diem's forces, killing nine civilians. This led to a mass campaign against Diem's government during the Buddhist crisis
, and Diem and his family were deposed and killed.
The first Vietnamese bishop, John Baptist Nguyễn Bá Tòng, was consecrated in 1933 at St. Peter's Basilica
by Pope Pius XI.
In 1976, the Holy See
made Archbishop Joseph Mary Trịnh Như Khuê the first Vietnamese cardinal
. Joseph Mary Cardinal Trịnh Văn Căn in 1979 and Paul Joseph Cardinal Phạm Đình Tung in 1994 were his successors. The well known Vietnamese Cardinal Nguyên Văn Thuân
, who was imprisoned by the Communist regime from 1975–1988 and spent nine years in solitary confinement, was nominated Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace
, and made its President in 1998. On February 21, 2001, he was elevated to the College of Cardinals
by Pope John Paul II.
All Vietnamese Catholics who had died for their faith from 1533 to the present day were canonized in 1988 by John Paul II as Vietnamese Martyrs
.
Vietnam and the Vatican
currently do not have diplomatic relations with one another. However, there have been meetings between leaders of the two states, including a visit by Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to the Vatican to meet Pope Benedict XVI
on January 25, 2007.
Official Vatican delegations have been traveling to Vietnam almost every year since 1990 for meetings with its government authorities and to visit Catholic dioceses.
In March 2007, a Vatican delegation visited Vietnam and met with local officials.
The sides discussed the possibility of establishing diplomatic relations in normal atmosphere, but have not provided a specific schedule for the exchange of ambassadors. The issues of continued restrictions on Catholic life in Vietnam and the nominating of bishops by the Pope without or with insisted by local government approval of Vietnamese bodies remain obstacles in bilateral dialog.
In March 2007, Thaddeus Nguyễn Văn Lý (b. 1946), a dissident Roman Catholic priest, was sentenced by Vietnamese court in Huế
to eight years in prison on grounds of "anti-government activities". Nguyen, who had already spent 14 of the past 24 years in prison, was accused of being a founder of a pro-democracy movement Bloc 8406
and a member of the Progression Party of Vietnam.
On September 16, 2007, the fifth anniversary of the Cardinal Nguyễn Văn Thuận
's death, the Roman Catholic Church began the beatification
process for him. Benedict XVI expressed "profound joy" at the news of the official opening of the beatification cause. Roman Catholics in Vietnam also reacted positively to the news of the opening of the Cardinal's beatification process.
In December 2007, thousands of Vietnamese Catholics marched in procession to the former apostolic nunciature
in Hanoi
and prayed there twice aiming to return the property to the local Church. The building was a historic Buddhist site until it was confiscated by the French colonists and given to Catholics, before the communist North Vietnamese government confiscated it from the Vatican in 1959.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7262411.stm That was the first mass civil activity of the Vietnamese Catholics since the 1970s. A little later the protests were supported by Catholic faithful in Hồ Chí Minh City
and Hà Ðông
, who put forward the same demands for their respective territories. In February 2008, the governments promised to return the building to the Roman Catholic Church. However, in September 2008, the authorities changed their position and decided to demolish the building to create a public park
The dioceses are:
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
and curia
Curia
A curia in early Roman times was a subdivision of the people, i.e. more or less a tribe, and with a metonymy it came to mean also the meeting place where the tribe discussed its affairs...
in Rome. Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
has the fifth largest Catholic population in Asia, after the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, India, China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
and Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
.
By the information of Catholic Hierarchy Catalog, there are 5,658,000 Catholics in Vietnam, representing 6.87% of the total population. There are 26 diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
s (including three archdioceses) with 2228 parishes and 2668 priests.
History
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
visited Vietnam from Portugal at the beginning of the 16th century. The earliest missions did not bring very impressive results. Only after the arrival of Jesuits in the first decades of the 17th century did Christianity begin to establish its positions within the local population. Between 1627 and 1630 Fathers Alexander de Rhodes
Alexander de Rhodes
Father Alexander de Rhodes was a French Jesuit missionary and lexicographer who had a lasting impact on Christianity in Vietnam. He wrote the Dictionarium Annamiticum Lusitanum et Latinum, the first trilingual Vietnamese-Portuguese-Latin dictionary published in Rome in 1651.- Biography...
and Antoine Marquez of the French Province converted over 6,000.
In the 17th century, de Rhodes created a written system of the Vietnamese language largely using the Roman alphabet with added diacritic
Diacritic
A diacritic is a glyph added to a letter, or basic glyph. The term derives from the Greek διακριτικός . Diacritic is both an adjective and a noun, whereas diacritical is only an adjective. Some diacritical marks, such as the acute and grave are often called accents...
markings, based on the work of earlier Portuguese missionaries. This system continues to be used today, and is called Quốc Ngữ (literally "national language").
Pigneau de Behaine and the Nguyễn
The French missionary priest and Bishop of Adran Pigneau de BehainePigneau de Behaine
Pierre Joseph Georges Pigneau , commonly known as Pigneau de Béhaine, also Pierre Pigneaux and Bá Đa Lộc , was a French Catholic priest best known for his role in assisting Nguyễn Ánh to establish the Nguyễn Dynasty in Vietnam after the Tây Sơn...
played a key role in Vietnamese history towards the end of the 18th century. He had come to southern Vietnam to proselytise. In 1777, the Tây Sơn brothers killed the ruling Nguyễn lords, and Nguyễn Ánh was the most senior member of the family to have survived, and he fled into the Mekong Delta
Mekong Delta
The Mekong Delta is the region in southwestern Vietnam where the Mekong River approaches and empties into the sea through a network of distributaries. The Mekong delta region encompasses a large portion of southwestern Vietnam of . The size of the area covered by water depends on the season.The...
region in the far south, where he met Pigneau. Pigneau then became Nguyễn Ánh's confidant. Pigneau hoped that by playing a substantial role in a Nguyễn Ánh victory, he would be in position to lever important concessions for the Catholic Church in Vietnam, helping its expansion in South East Asia. From then on he became a politician and military strategist.
At one stage during the civil war, the Nguyễn were in trouble, so Pigneau was dispatched to seek French aid. He was able to recruit a band of French volunteers. Pigneau and other missionaries acted as business agents for Nguyễn Ánh, purchasing munitions and other military supplies. Pigneau also served as a military advisor and de facto foreign minister until his death in 1799. From 1794, Pigneau took part in all campaigns. He organized the defense of Dien Khanh
Dien Khanh
Dien Khanh is a district of Khanh Hoa Province in the South Central Coastal region of Vietnam.-Dien Khanh Citadel:The Dien Khanh Citadel is situated on Dien Khanh Townlet, Dien Khanh District, Khanh Hoa Province...
when it was besieged by a numerically vastly superior Tây Sơn army in 1794. Upon Pigneau's death, Gia Long's funeral oration described the Frenchman as "the most illustrious foreigner ever to appear at the court of Cochinchina".
By 1802, when Nguyễn Ánh conquered all of Vietnam and declared himself Emperor Gia Long, the Roman Catholic Church in Vietnam had 3 dioceses as follows:
- Diocese of Eastern North Vietnam: 140,000 members, 41 Vietnamese priests, 4 missionary priests and 1 bishop.
- Diocese of Western North Vietnam: 120,000 members, 65 Vietnamese priests, 46 missionary priests and 1 bishop.
- Diocese of Central and South Vietnam: 60,000 members, 15 Vietnamese priests, 5 missionary priests and 1 bishop.
Gia Long tolerated the Catholic faith of his French allies and permitted unimpeded missionary activities out of respect to his benefactors. The missionary activity was dominated by the Spanish in Tonkin and French in the central and southern regions. At the time of his death, there were six European bishops in Vietnam. The population of Christians was estimated at 300,000 in Tonkin and 60,000 in Cochinchina.
Later Nguyễn Dynasty
The peaceful coexistence of Catholicism alongside the classical Confucian system of Vietnam was not to last. Gia Long himself was Confucian in outlook. As Crown Prince Nguyễn Phúc CảnhNguyen Phuc Canh
Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh Nguyễn Phúc Cảnh (1780–1801, also known as Prince Cảnh, was the eldest son of the Vietnamese Prince Nguyễn Phúc Ánh, the future Emperor Gia Long. At the age of seven, he famously visited France with the French Catholic Father Pigneau de Béhaine to sign an alliance...
had already died, it was assumed that Cảnh's son would succeed Gia Long as emperor, but in 1816 Nguyễn Phúc Đảm
Minh Mang
Minh Mạng was the second emperor of the Nguyễn Dynasty of Vietnam, reigning from 14 February 1820 until 20 January 1841. He was a younger son of Emperor Gia Long, whose eldest son, Crown Prince Canh, had died in 1801...
, the son of Gia Long's second wife, was appointed instead. Gia Long chose him for his strong character and his deeply conservative aversion to Westerners, whereas Cảnh's lineage had converted to Catholicism and were reluctant to maintain their Confucian traditions such as ancestor worship.
Lê Văn Duyệt
Le Van Duyet
Lê Văn Duyệt was a Vietnamese general who helped Nguyễn Ánh—the future Emperor Gia Long—put down the Tây Sơn rebellion, unify Vietnam and establish the Nguyễn Dynasty...
and many of the high-ranking mandarins opposed Gia Long's succession plan. Duyệt and many of his southern associates tended to be favourable to Christianity, and supported the installation of Nguyễn Cảnh's descendants on the throne. As a result, Duyet was held in high regard by the Catholic community. According to the historian Mark McLeod, Duyet was more concerned with military rather than social needs, and was thus more interested in maintaining strong relations with Europeans so that he could acquire weapons from them, rather than worrying about the social implications of westernization. Gia Long was aware of the fact that Catholic clergy were opposed to the installation of Minh Mạng because they favoured a Catholic monarch (Canh's son) that would grant them favours.
Minh Mạng began to place restrictions on Catholicism. He enacted "edicts of interdiction of the Catholic religion" and condemned Christianity as a "heterodox doctrine". He saw the Catholics as a possible source of division, especially as the missionaries were arriving in Vietnam in ever-increasing numbers.
Duyet protected Vietnamese Catholic converts and westerners from Minh Mạng's policies by disobeying the emperor's orders.
Minh Mạng issued an imperial edict, that ordered missionaries to leave their areas and move to the imperial city, ostensibly because the palace needed translators, but in order to stop the Catholics from proselytizing. Whereas the government officials in central and northern Vietnam complied, Duyệt disobeyed the order and Minh Mạng was forced to bide his time. The emperor began to slowly wind back the military powers of Duyệt, and increased this after his death.
Minh Mạng ordered the posthumous humiliation of Duyệt. This resulted in the desecration of his tomb, the execution of sixteen relatives, and the arrests of his colleagues.
Duyệt's son Lê Văn Khôi
Le Van Khoi
Lê Văn Khôi was the adopted son of the Vietnamese general Lê Văn Duyệt. He led the 1833–1835 Lê Văn Khôi revolt against Emperor Minh Mạng, but died in 1834....
, along with the southerners who had seen their and Duyệt's power curtailed, revolted against Minh Mạng.
Khôi declared himself in favour of the restoration of the line of Prince Cảnh. This choice was designed to obtain the support of Catholic missionaries and Vietnamese Catholics, who had been supporting the Catholic line of Prince Cảnh. Lê Văn Khôi further promised to protect Catholicism.
In 1833, the rebels took over southern Vietnam, with Catholics playing a large role. 2,000 Vietnamese Catholic troops fought under the command of Father Nguyễn Văn Tâm.
The rebellion was suppressed after three years of fighting. The French missionary Father Joseph Marchand
Joseph Marchand
Joseph Marchand was a French missionary in Vietnam, and a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society....
, of the Paris Foreign Missions Society
Paris Foreign Missions Society
The Society of Foreign Missions of Paris is a Roman Catholic missionary organization. It is not a religious order, but an organization of secular priests and lay persons dedicated to missionary work in foreign lands....
was captured in the siege, and had been supporting Khoi, and asked for the help of the Siamese army, through communications to his counterpart in Siam, Father Taberd
Jean-Louis Taberd
Jean-Louis Taberd was a French missionary of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, and Bishop of Isauropolis, in partibus infidelium.-Career:...
. This revealed the strong Catholic involvement in the revolt. Father Marchand was executed.
The failure of the revolt had a disastrous effect on the Christians of Vietnam. New restrictions against Christians followed, and demands were made to find and execute remaining missionaries. Anti-Catholic edicts to this effect were issued by Minh Mạng in 1836 and 1838. In 1836-1837 six missionaries were executed: Ignacio Delgado, Dominico Henares, Jean-Charles Cornay
Jean-Charles Cornay
Jean-Charles Cornay was a French missionary of the Paris Foreign Missions Society in Vietnam. He was born in Loudun, Vienne, France, and was executed in Ha Tay, Vietnam, during the persecutions of Emperor Minh Mạng....
, José Fernández, François Jaccard, and Bishop Pierre Borie
Pierre Borie
Pierre Dumoulin-Borie was a French Catholic missionary priest and a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society. He is a Catholic saint, canonized in 1988 along with other Vietnamese Martyrs.-Life:...
.
Colonial era
Persistent rebellions occurred throughout the Nguyễn Dynasty, many led by Catholic priests intent on installing a Christian monarch. During the French colonial campaign against Vietnam from 1858 to 1883, many Catholics, including priests, joined with the French in helping to establish colonialism by fighting against the Vietnamese government. In 1858, when the first expeditions were launched by Admiral Rigault de Genouilly, he was accompanied by an adviser, Bishop Pellerin. Once colonial rule was established the Catholics were rewarded with preferential treatment in government posts, education, and the church was given vast tracts of royal land that had been seized.Roman Catholicism in South Vietnam (1954–1975)
From 1954 to 1975, Vietnam was split into NorthNorth Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
and South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
. In a country where surveys of the religious composition estimated the Buddhist majority to be between 70 and 90 percent, President Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngô Đình Diệm was the first president of South Vietnam . In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diệm led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam. Accruing considerable U.S. support due to his staunch anti-Communism, he achieved victory in a...
's policies generated claims of religious bias. As a member of the Catholic Vietnamese minority, he is widely regarded by historians as having pursued pro-Catholic policies that antagonized many Buddhists. Specifically, the government was regarded as being biased towards Catholics in public service and military promotions, as well as the allocation of land, business favors and tax concessions. Diem also once told a high-ranking officer, forgetting that he was a Buddhist, "Put your Catholic officers in sensitive places. They can be trusted." Many officers in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam
Army of the Republic of Vietnam
The Army of the Republic of Viet Nam , sometimes parsimoniously referred to as the South Vietnamese Army , was the land-based military forces of the Republic of Vietnam , which existed from October 26, 1955 until the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975...
converted to Catholicism in the belief that their military prospects depended on it. Additionally, the distribution of firearms to village self-defense militias intended to repel Vietcong guerrillas saw weapons only given to Catholics. Some Catholic priests ran their own private armies, and in some areas forced conversions, looting, shelling and demolition of pagodas occurred. Some villages converted en masse in order to receive aid or avoid being forcibly resettled by Diem's regime. The Catholic Church was the largest landowner in the country, and its holdings were exempt from reform and given extra property acquisition rights, while restrictions against Buddhism remained in force. Catholics were also de facto exempt from the corvée
Corvée
Corvée is unfree labour, often unpaid, that is required of people of lower social standing and imposed on them by the state or a superior . The corvée was the earliest and most widespread form of taxation, which can be traced back to the beginning of civilization...
labor that the government obliged all citizens to perform; U.S. aid was disproportionately distributed to Catholic majority villages. In 1959, Diem dedicated his country to the Virgin Mary.
The white and gold Vatican flag was regularly flown at all major public events in South Vietnam. The newly constructed Hue
Hue University
Huế University is a university located in Huế, the former imperial capital of Vietnam; this university is one of the important regional universities of Vietnam...
and Dalat
Dalat University
Da Lat University is a university in the city of Da Lat, Lam Dong Province, Vietnam. The original Da Lat University was established in 1957 — after support of and requests by Archbishop Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục — by the Council of Vietnamese Catholic Bishops as a centre for...
universities were placed under Catholic authority to foster a Catholic-influenced academic environment. In May 1963, in the central city of Huế
Hue
Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...
, where Diem's elder brother Ngo Dinh Thuc was the archbishop, Buddhists were prohibited from displaying Buddhist flags during Vesak
Vesak
Vesākha is a holiday observed traditionally by Buddhists in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the South East Asian countries of Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Burma, and Indonesia...
celebrations. A few days earlier, Catholics were allowed to fly religious flags at a celebration in honour of Thuc. This led to a protest against the government, which was suppressed by Diem's forces, killing nine civilians. This led to a mass campaign against Diem's government during the Buddhist crisis
Buddhist crisis
The Buddhist crisis was a period of political and religious tension in South Vietnam from May 1963 to November 1963 characterized by a series of repressive acts by the South Vietnamese government and a campaign of civil resistance, led mainly by Buddhist monks....
, and Diem and his family were deposed and killed.
Present time
St. Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian as ' and commonly known as Saint Peter's Basilica, is a Late Renaissance church located within the Vatican City. Saint Peter's Basilica has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world...
by Pope Pius XI.
In 1976, the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
made Archbishop Joseph Mary Trịnh Như Khuê the first Vietnamese cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
. Joseph Mary Cardinal Trịnh Văn Căn in 1979 and Paul Joseph Cardinal Phạm Đình Tung in 1994 were his successors. The well known Vietnamese Cardinal Nguyên Văn Thuân
Nguyen Van Thuan
François-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận was a Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church. He was the nephew of South Vietnam’s first President, Ngô Đình Diệm, and of Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục.-Early life:He was born in the Imperial capital of Huế, Vietnam....
, who was imprisoned by the Communist regime from 1975–1988 and spent nine years in solitary confinement, was nominated Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace
Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace
The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace is a part of the Roman Curia dedicated to "action-oriented studies" for the international promotion of justice, peace, and human rights from the perspective of the Roman Catholic Church...
, and made its President in 1998. On February 21, 2001, he was elevated to the College of Cardinals
College of Cardinals
The College of Cardinals is the body of all cardinals of the Catholic Church.A function of the college is to advise the pope about church matters when he summons them to an ordinary consistory. It also convenes on the death or abdication of a pope as a papal conclave to elect a successor...
by Pope John Paul II.
All Vietnamese Catholics who had died for their faith from 1533 to the present day were canonized in 1988 by John Paul II as Vietnamese Martyrs
Vietnamese Martyrs
The Vietnamese Martyrs, also known as the Martyrs of Tonkin, Martyrs of Annam , Andrew Dung-Lac and Companions , or Martyrs of Indochina, are saints on the Roman Catholic calendar of saints canonized by Pope John Paul II...
.
Vietnam and the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
currently do not have diplomatic relations with one another. However, there have been meetings between leaders of the two states, including a visit by Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung to the Vatican to meet Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
on January 25, 2007.
Official Vatican delegations have been traveling to Vietnam almost every year since 1990 for meetings with its government authorities and to visit Catholic dioceses.
In March 2007, a Vatican delegation visited Vietnam and met with local officials.
The sides discussed the possibility of establishing diplomatic relations in normal atmosphere, but have not provided a specific schedule for the exchange of ambassadors. The issues of continued restrictions on Catholic life in Vietnam and the nominating of bishops by the Pope without or with insisted by local government approval of Vietnamese bodies remain obstacles in bilateral dialog.
In March 2007, Thaddeus Nguyễn Văn Lý (b. 1946), a dissident Roman Catholic priest, was sentenced by Vietnamese court in Huế
Hue
Hue is one of the main properties of a color, defined technically , as "the degree to which a stimulus can be describedas similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, green, blue, and yellow,"...
to eight years in prison on grounds of "anti-government activities". Nguyen, who had already spent 14 of the past 24 years in prison, was accused of being a founder of a pro-democracy movement Bloc 8406
Bloc 8406
Bloc 8406 is a Catholic-led unified coalition of political groups in Vietnam that advocate for democracy reforms in Vietnam. It is named after the date of the group's manifesto , 8 April, 2006, and was originally signed by 118 of dissidents calling for a multiparty...
and a member of the Progression Party of Vietnam.
On September 16, 2007, the fifth anniversary of the Cardinal Nguyễn Văn Thuận
Nguyen Van Thuan
François-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận was a Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church. He was the nephew of South Vietnam’s first President, Ngô Đình Diệm, and of Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục.-Early life:He was born in the Imperial capital of Huế, Vietnam....
's death, the Roman Catholic Church began the beatification
Beatification
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...
process for him. Benedict XVI expressed "profound joy" at the news of the official opening of the beatification cause. Roman Catholics in Vietnam also reacted positively to the news of the opening of the Cardinal's beatification process.
In December 2007, thousands of Vietnamese Catholics marched in procession to the former apostolic nunciature
Apostolic Nunciature
An Apostolic Nunciature is a top-level diplomatic mission of the Holy See, equivalent to an embassy.The head of the Apostolic Nunciature is called nuncio. A nuncio is an ecclesiastical diplomatic title, derived from the ancient Latin nuntius, meaning messenger...
in Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi , is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts, 6.5 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important political centre of Vietnam...
and prayed there twice aiming to return the property to the local Church. The building was a historic Buddhist site until it was confiscated by the French colonists and given to Catholics, before the communist North Vietnamese government confiscated it from the Vatican in 1959.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7262411.stm That was the first mass civil activity of the Vietnamese Catholics since the 1970s. A little later the protests were supported by Catholic faithful in Hồ Chí Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
and Hà Ðông
Hà Ðông
Hà Ðông is the former capital city of Hà Tây Province in Vietnam, now an urban district of Hanoi. the city was the largest suburb of the greater Hanoi urban area by population .-See also:*Ho Dac Diem, past governor...
, who put forward the same demands for their respective territories. In February 2008, the governments promised to return the building to the Roman Catholic Church. However, in September 2008, the authorities changed their position and decided to demolish the building to create a public park
Roman Catholic dioceses
There are 26 dioceses including three archdioceses. The Archdioceses are:- Archdiocese (Metropolitan) of Hanoi
- Archdiocese (Metropolitan) of Hue
- Archdiocese (Metropolitan) of Ho Chi Minh city, (former Saigon).
The dioceses are:
- Diocese of Ba RiaDiocese of Ba RiaThe diocese of Ba Ria is a Roman Catholic diocese of Vietnam. The creation of the diocese was made public on November 22, 2005. It was detached from the diocese of Xuân Lôc...
- Diocese of Bac Ninh
- Diocese of Ban Mê ThuôtDiocese of Ban Mê ThuôtDiocese of Ban Mê Thuôt is a Roman Catholic diocese of Vietnam in the city of Buôn Ma Thuột in Dak Lak Province of the central highlands region. The Bishop as of 2000 was His Excellency, the Most Reverend Bishop Joseph Nguyên Tich Duc; he retired in 2007 and died as Bishop Emeritus on Monday, May...
- Diocese of Bùi Chu
- Diocese of Cân Tho
- Diocese of Ðà LatDiocese of Ðà LatThe Diocese of Ðà Lat is a Roman Catholic diocese of Vietnam, headquartered in the southern city of Da Lat, Lam Dong Province.The diocese had been a vacant see due to the appointment of the previous Bishop, His Excellency, the Most Reverend Archbishop Pierre Nguyên Van Nhon, as Coadjutor...
- Diocese of Ðà Nang
- Diocese of Hai Phòng
- Diocese of Hung Hóa
- Diocese of KontumDiocese of KontumDiocese of Kontum is a Roman Catholic diocese of Vietnam. The bishop since 2003 is Michel Hoang Ðúc Oanh. More than 10 % of the million persons living in its area are Roman Catholics. Many of them belong to ethnic minorities....
- Diocese of Lang Son and Cao Bang
- Diocese of Long Xuyên
- Diocese of My Tho
- Diocese of Nha Trang
- Diocese of Phan Thiêt
- Diocese of Phát Diêm
- Diocese of Phú Cuong
- Diocese of Quy Nhon
- Diocese of Thai Binh
- Diocese of Thanh HóaDiocese of Thanh HóaThe diocese of Thanh Hóa is a Roman Catholic diocese of Vietnam. The bishop since 2004 is Joseph Nguyễn Chí Linh. Of the three million persons living in its area about 3% are Roman Catholics....
- Diocese of Vinh
- Diocese of Vinh Long
- Diocese of Xuân LôcDiocese of Xuân LôcThe diocese of Xuân Lôc is a Roman Catholic diocese of Vietnam. The bishop, since 2004, is Dominique Nguyên Chu Trinh. More than 30% of the two million persons living in its area are Roman Catholics....
.
See also
- Vietnamese MartyrsVietnamese MartyrsThe Vietnamese Martyrs, also known as the Martyrs of Tonkin, Martyrs of Annam , Andrew Dung-Lac and Companions , or Martyrs of Indochina, are saints on the Roman Catholic calendar of saints canonized by Pope John Paul II...
- Christianity in VietnamChristianity in VietnamChristianity was first introduced to Vietnam in the 16th century and established a solid position in Vietnamese society since the 19th century. Roman Catholics and Protestants today constitute 7% and 1% of the country’s population accordingly; the newest government census shows that is 8% ....
- List of Roman Catholic Dioceses in Vietnam
- Marian DaysMarian DaysThe Marian Days is the main festival and pilgrimage for Vietnamese American Roman Catholics. The annual event in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary has taken place the first weekend in August since 1978 on the campus of the Congregation of the Mother Co-Redemptrix in Carthage, Missouri...
- Nguyen Van ThuanNguyen Van ThuanFrançois-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận was a Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church. He was the nephew of South Vietnam’s first President, Ngô Đình Diệm, and of Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục.-Early life:He was born in the Imperial capital of Huế, Vietnam....
- Nguyen Van Ly
- Peter NguyenPeter NguyenPeter Nguyen Van Hung is a Vietnamese Australian Catholic priest and human rights activist on Taiwan, recognised by the U.S. Department of State as a "hero acting to end modern day slavery".-Early life:...
External links
- The Catholic Church in Vietnam by Giga-Catholic Information
- Catholic hierarchy in Vietnam
- Catholic Church in Vietnam with 470 years of Evangelization
- Vietnamese Catholic Network in Vietnamese
- Vietnamese Catholic Links
- Country profile, on WhereGodWeeps.org