Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of three articles from Vietnam. Read Part I and Part II.

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam — Books by, and about, “Giao Hoàng Phanxico,” Pope Francis, line shelves in the Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City’s impressive bookstore, located on Paris Commune Square, known between 1964 and 1975 as John F. Kennedy Square.

In the middle of the square stands a dramatic white granite statue of Blessed Virgin Mary, installed in 1959. Nine years ago, the depiction caused a frenzy when word went out that a tear fell down the right cheek. Affixed to the statue’s base is a message in bronze:

Regina Pacis

Ora Pro Nobis

Past, present and an emerging future coexist palpably in this dynamic country. 

Two buildings dominate Paris Commune Square: Ho Chi Minh Central Post Office, featuring a giant portrait of the man whose lifelong struggle was the reunification of Vietnam under the Communist Party (achieved in 1975); and the Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of The Immaculate Conception, a Romanesque treasure that opened in 1880 and is currently covered by scaffolding. Then there’s the Notre Dame bookstore selling sacramentals, chalices and an assortment of priestly robes.

Walking 20 minutes to the archbishop’s residence and office, I seek insight into relations between the local Church and state from a priestly expert wearing many hats: chief of staff for Vietnam’s Conference of Catholic Bishops (41 in all); secretary of Vietnam’s Episcopal Committee for Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People; and episcopal vicar for pastoral care for foreigners in the Archdiocese of Saigon. Jesuit Father Joseph Dao Nguyen Vu must never sleep.

Presidential Visit

Father Vu attended the historic meeting last August when Vietnam’s then-president Vo Van Thuong sought Catholic bishops at their headquarters in Ho Chi Minh City to share with them his experience of meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican.

“He had a very good impression of the Holy Father and Cardinal Parolin,” recounted Father Vu. “And he promised he would share what they discussed” with the conference, so he came in person, something no high state official had ever done. 

Vietnam and the Vatican have engaged in active dialogue for decades, steadily advancing the Church’s standing despite the communist government’s radically anti-Christian bias when it took power in 1975.

According to Father Vu, the president “shared how he hoped the Church would extend areas of collaboration with the state and private sector for the poor, especially with children. He knew many priests and sisters who volunteered amid the pandemic to go to hospitals and help people. They [the government] recognize the great resource of the Catholic Church.”

Permanent Nunciature?

Putting new forms of collaboration into practice remains challenging mainly because the law prevents any religious instruction in schools or public settings, but Father Vu is happy to confirm the success of the most tangible outcome of the president’s meeting with the Pope: agreement on a permanent resident papal representative for Vietnam.

On Christmas Eve last year, the Holy See announced that Polish Archbishop Marek Zalewski, nuncio to Singapore, would serve as the Vatican’s new envoy.

Today, Archbishop Zalewski has a suite that serves as the office and residence at the Pan Pacific Hanoi. The government granted him a visa allowing multiple reentries to the country, so he comes to Hanoi monthly and returns to Singapore before the 30-day limit expires.

“With his predecessor, Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli (2011-2017), the government was very strict,” Father Vu recalled.  “I think because back then, before 2018, there was no direct channel of communication. Now there’s a direct channel so something like visa status can be more relaxed.”

The possibility of establishing a nunciature, or embassy, for the Holy See in Hanoi is still under discussion.

As Father Vu explains, this gets to the heart of the remaining issue dividing the government of Vietnam and the Vatican: “Now, the government accepts the pope — and by implication his representative — as a spiritual leader, not as a head of state. But Rome wants to see the pope recognized as a head of state too”— which would, normally, bring with it an embassy.

Evidence of progress this year came with the April arrival in Hanoi of Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Vatican secretary for relations with states (comparable to the Vatican’s foreign minister), for a six-day visit despite the abrupt resignation of President Thuong a few weeks before.

Archbishop Gallagher offered Mass in each of the country’s three archdioceses, Hanoi, Hue and Ho Chi Minh City. He met with the country’s prime minister and foreign minister. According to Catholic News Agency, it was the first high-level Vatican visit since the Vietnam War ended in 1975 — and the possibility of a visit from Pope Francis was on the agenda.

Papal Letter and Hanoi’s Belated Response

In September 2023, Pope Francis wrote a letter to Catholics in Vietnam offering an update on Church-state relations. He reported positively on the Vatican’s evolving dialogue with Hanoi using phrases such as “reciprocal trust” and “mutual understanding.” He echoed Pope Benedict XVI in reminding Vietnamese Catholics that they are “daughters and sons of the Church and at the same time citizens of Vietnam”— with no friction between the two identities.

The Pontiff lauded the Catholic community’s devotion, urging them to continue “the concrete practice of charity,” which benefits all. It is not a dramatic text; rather, it’s gentle, affirming and fatherly.

The Vietnamese government, on the other hand, read drama into the document, at least in its (belated) public response.  

Ten months after the letter from Rome was released, Vietnam’s Government Committee for Religious Affairs convened a workshop in Hanoi to discuss its implications. Bishop Joseph Do Manh Hung, secretary-general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Vietnam, five bishops, about 12 priests, and a variety of state officials were invited — together with a significant array of national media. 

Pope Francis’s letter “formally abolished and definitively ended the historical conflict of ideologies,” declared a deputy minister from Home Affairs, the ministry which oversees religion. Indeed, he added, “This marks mutual recognition.”

In fact, the very strength of the Church in Vietnam can be traced back to an early era of mutual respect.

In 1659, Pope Alexander VII, a great Church diplomat, instructed the first apostolic vicar to Cochinchina (Vietnam today), Father Pierre Lambert de la Motte, a member of the Paris Foreign Missions Society, to respect local rulers and traditions: “Preach obedience to their prince; pray to God with all your heart for their prosperity and salvation. Absolutely refuse to sow the seeds of any Spanish, French, Turkish, Persian or other party. Do not use any argument to convince these peoples to change their lives and their culture, unless it is clearly contrary to religion and morals; do not introduce our ideas among them, but [our] faith.”

It was a message similar to what the great missionary St. Francis Xavier practiced 100 years earlier in Japan, where he spent two years getting to know the local language and culture while cultivating Japanese clergy.

Bamboo Diplomacy

Since 2016, Vietnam has pursued a savvy diplomatic strategy, drawing closer to the West, especially for trade, without disturbing longtime relationships with its neighbor, China, or its military supplier, Russia.

Known as “Bamboo Diplomacy,” the country’s foreign-policy posture is firm yet flexible. Its independence is also elucidated by the self-imposed guiding rules known as “Four Nos”: no military alliances, no foreign bases on Vietnamese territory, no partnership with one country against another, and no menace or use of force in international relations.   

The strategy envisions multiplying Vietnam’s global reach through productive partnerships. Now, Vietnam has full diplomatic relations with 191 U.N. member countries while the Holy See has bilateral agreements with 184. 

Since September 2023, the U.S. and Vietnam have had a “comprehensive strategic partnership,” which could make Vietnam a major high-tech and semiconductor partner of the U.S. 

Vietnam already had similar formal agreements with China, Russia, India and South Korea. It has since added to its nexus of partnerships with Japan, Australia and France while currently in negotiations to upgrade relationships with Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia. 

Reaffirming its independence strategy, Hanoi moves with agility between world powers: In December 2023, Vietnam joined China’s “community with a shared future.” Six months later, President To Lam received Russian President Vladimir Putin. In August, with the added title of secretary-general of the Communist Party, Lam traveled to Beijing. The next month, he met with President Joe Biden at the U.N.  

Quietly, Vietnam emerged as one of the few countries with excellent relations with all its neighbors and all great powers — reaping diplomatic and economic benefits. The Holy See is next.  

Cardinal Parolin and President Lam 

On Sept. 22, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, met at the United Nations with President Lam. They affirmed diplomatic progress and discussed a visit to Vietnam by Pope Francis, the first ever by a pope.  

The fruit is ripe: Vietnam and the Holy See are sure to sign a bilateral agreement soon, which will pave the way for an apostolic visit that Vietnamese Catholics discuss frequently because they expect it would galvanize the nation.

“If Francis comes to Vietnam, the whole country will welcome him, not just Catholics,” predicted Father Vu.

The priest continued, “The Holy Father would certainly visit North and South so he would be a source of reconciliation between Vietnamese Catholics here as well as abroad, where we still suffer the pain of separation — reconciliation, hope and faith. How beautiful!”