Government Officials Pay Visit to Holy See
ROME — Viet Nam and the Vatican have agreed to increase contacts to promote mutual understanding, solve issues of mutual concern, and improve bilateral relations.
The agreement was reached during a visit to the Vatican from June 27 to July 3 by a delegation of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs, led by Chairman Ngo Yen Thi. The visit was made at the invitation of the Holy See’s Relations with States.
Thi met with Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, his deputy Monsignor Pietro Parolin. Thi also met with Cardinal Crescenczio Sepe, the Prefect of the Congregation for Evangelisation of People’s, and leaders of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue.
The Holy See is ready to establish diplomatic relations with Viet Nam, Thi said, and added that it praised Viet Nam’s activities since the two sides met in Ha Noi in 2004 as well as the country’s goodwill in settling the Holy See’s requirements over the past years.
The Holy See thanked Vietnamese leaders for their sentiments over the death of Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s inauguration as Pope Benedict XVI.
Thi informed the Holy See of Viet Nam’s religious policy and said that the country respects religious freedom in the spirit of "Live according to the Gospel, serving the Motherland and the Nation".
Thi and his delegation also attended a Eucharistic celebration held in the Vatican Basilica on June 29, presided by the Pope to confer the pallium to 32 metropolitan archbishops including Archbishop Ngo Quang Kiet of Ha Noi.
Viet Nam News, July 4, 2005
