Roman Catholicism in Vietnam

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The Roman Catholic Church in Vietnam is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome. Vietnam has the fourth largest Catholic population in Asia, after the Philippines, India, and China.

By the information of Catholic Hierarchy Catalog, there are 5,658,000 Catholics in Vietnam, representing 6.87% of the total population.[1] There are 26 dioceses (including three archdioceses) with 2228 parishes and 2668 priests.[1] .

Contents

[edit] History

Alexander de Rhodes - missionary and creator of Vietnamese alphabet
Alexander de Rhodes - missionary and creator of Vietnamese alphabet

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 1620 Fathers Alexander de Rhodes and Antoine Marquez of the French Province converted over 6,000, including numerous bonzes, who, during the temporary expulsion of the Jesuits dictated by the fear of their wonderful success, kept alive the faith. So rapidly did the Christian community increase that in 1659 the spiritual administration of Tong-king and Cochin China was entrusted to the first vicars Apostolic of the Society of Foreign Missions, who established parishes, built seminaries, and instituted many foundations of the Amantes de la Croix (i.e., Lovers of the Holy Cross).

Jesuit missionary Alexandre De Rhodes in the 17-th century 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").

By 1802, 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. [2]

Later centuries (mainly, 19th) had long periods of turbulence in Catholic life in Vietnam, including persecution of Roman Catholic clergy and ordinary believers by Vietnamese authorities. Such events described in Catholic Encyclopedia as the "Great Massacres", demonstrated the fierce determination of the Annamite rulers to destroy every vestige of the Christian faith. In Eastern Cochin China the martyrs included 15 priests (7 native), 60 catechists, 270 nuns, 24,000 Christians (out of 41, 234); all the charitable institutions and ecclesiastical buildings of the mission—including the episcopal curia, churches, presbyteries, 2 seminaries, a printing establishment, 17 orphanages, 10 convents, and 225 chapels — were destroyed. In Southern Cochin China 10 native priests and 8585 Christians were massacred in the Quang Tri Province alone—the two remaining provinces supplied hundreds of martyrs; two-thirds of the churches, presbyteries, etc. of the mission were pillaged and burned. In the Mission of Southern Tong-king, 163 churches were burned; 4799 Catholics were executed, while 1181 died of hunger and misery. These figures apply only to the year 1885. In 1883-1884 eight French missionaries, one native priest, 63 catechists and 400 Christians were massacred in Western Tong-king, while 10,000 Catholics only saved themselves by flight. The carnage extended even to the remote forests of Laos, where seven missionaries, several native priests, and thousands of Catholics were killed.

First Vietnamese bishop, John Baptist Nguyễn Bá Tòng, was consecrated in 1933 at St. Peter’s Basilica by Pope Pius XI.[3]

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. [4]

All Vietnamese Catholics who had died for their faith from 1533 to the present day were canonized in 1988 by Pope John Paul II as Vietnamese Martyrs.

[edit] Present time

Notre Dame Cathedral in Ho Chi Minh City (former Saigon)
Notre Dame Cathedral in Ho Chi Minh City (former Saigon)

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. [5] 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 nominating bishops by Pope without or with insisted by local government approval of Vietnamese bodies remain obstacles in bilateral dialog.

Vatican officials also visited Quy Nhon and Kontum dioceses, which had never hosted such delegations before.

In March 2007, Thaddeus Nguyễn Văn Lý (b. 1946), a dissident Roman Catholic priest, was sentenced by Vietnamese court in Hue to eight years in prison for so called "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.[6]

On September 16, 2007, the fifth anniversary of the cardinal Nguyễn Văn Thuận death, the Roman Catholic Church began the beatification process for him.[7] Pope Benedict XVI expressed "profound joy" at news of the official opening of the beatification cause.[8] Roman Catholics in Vietnam also positively received the news on beatification process opening for the cardinal.

In December 2007, thousands of Vietnamese catholics marched in procession to the former apostolic nunciature in Hanoi (confiscated by the communist government in 1959) and prayed there twice aiming to return the property to the local Church.[9] That was evidently the first mass civil activity of the Vietnamese catholics since the 70-s of last century. Little later the protests were supported by Catholic faithful in Hồ Chí Minh City and Hà Ðông, who put forward same demands on their respective territories[10]. As a result, the former building of apostolic nunciature in Hanoi was returned by the Vietnamese Government to Catholic Church in February 2008.[11]

[edit] Roman Catholic dioceses

There are 26 dioceses including three archdioceses. The Archdioceses are:

The dioceses are:

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Catholic Hierarchy Web Site
  2. ^ Catholic Church in Vietnam with 470 years of Evangelization. Rev. John Trần Công Nghị, Religious Education Congress in Anaheim (2004). Retrieved on 2007-05-17.
  3. ^ Catholic Church in Vietnam with 470 years of Evangelization. Rev. John Trần Công Nghị, Religious Education Congress in Anaheim (2004). Retrieved on 2007-05-17.
  4. ^ Catholic Church in Vietnam with 470 years of Evangelization. Rev. John Trần Công Nghị, Religious Education Congress in Anaheim (2004). Retrieved on 2007-05-17.
  5. ^ Vatican: Vietnam working on full diplomatic relations with Holy See. Catholic News Service (2007-03-12). Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
  6. ^ Asia News, March 2007
  7. ^ "Late Vietnamese cardinal put on road to sainthood", Reuters, September 17, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-09-17. 
  8. ^ UCANews at Catholic.org
  9. ^ UCA News
  10. ^ Vietnamese Catholics broaden their protest demanding justice, Asianews, 01/15/2008
  11. ^ Archbishop of Hanoi confirms restitution of nunciature, thanks pope
  12. ^ Catholic Dioceses in Vietnam. Giga-Catholic Information (2007-05-10). Retrieved on 2007-05-15.
  13. ^ [http://www.gcatholic.com/dioceses/data/countryVN.htm Catholic Dioceses in Vietnam]. Giga-Catholic Information (2007-05-10). Retrieved on 2007-05-15.

[edit] External links

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.

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