Vatican Tries to Normalize Relations in Vietnam

STORY:
Talks began in Hanoi on Monday, February 16. The Pope's Undersecretary of State Monsignor Pietro Parolin arrived to try to figure out a way to improve relations.

Vietnam has five and a half million Catholics and is home to the second biggest Catholic community in Asia after the Philippines. But Vietnam is one of the few countries that the Pope does not have formal diplomatic relations with.

Over the past year, clergy and Catholic followers have had tensions with communist authorities over land disputes. This includes the former Vatican ambassador's residence in central Hanoi.

Catholicism in Vietnam dates back centuries to French colonial rule. There were also many Catholics in the U.S.-backed South Vietnamese government that fell in 1975.

The Communist Party has placed all religion in Vietnam under state supervision. But they have been especially suspicious of Catholic followers, particularly exiles in America and France.

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