Delegation of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs of Vietnam visits the Vatican

According to a VNA reporter in Rome, a 7-member delegation of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs of Vietnam led by Deputy Minister of Home Affairs and Head of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs Pham Dung visited and worked at the Vatican from September 15-20.

The Government Committee for Religious Affairs delegation worked with Vatican Deputy Foreign Minister Antoine Camilleri. (Photo: Pham Thanh/Vietnam+)

During their stay in the Vatican, the delegation, together with Vietnamese Ambassador to Italy Nguyen Hoang Long, had a working meeting with Deputy Minister of Propaganda (Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples) Tadeusz Wojda, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Antoine Camilleri, attended a general meeting of Pope Francis and visited Vatican Radio.

At the working sessions, the two sides informed each other about their respective situations, reviewed the progress in Vietnam-Vatican relations over the past time, and discussed a number of issues of mutual concern.

The Vietnamese side affirmed that the Vietnamese Government always consistently implements religious policies, ensures freedom of belief and religion, and at the same time opposes the exploitation of belief and religion to destabilize society, affecting the common interests of the Catholic community in particular and the nation in general.

The Vietnamese Government pledges to always support and create favorable conditions to help religious organizations, and at the same time expresses its wish that Vietnamese Catholics actively participate in building the country, contribute through concrete actions to the common good of society, live a good life and practice the teachings of Pope Benedict XVI to Catholics that "A good Catholic is also a good citizen."

The Vatican highly appreciated the positive developments in relations between Vietnam and the Holy See as well as the attention and support of the Vietnamese Government for the activities of the Catholic Church in Vietnam in recent times, especially the pastoral visits of the Vatican's non-resident Special Envoy to Vietnam, Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli.

The Vatican also continued to emphasize its desire to further develop relations with Vietnam, and said that Vietnamese Catholics need to respect the government and comply with Vietnam's laws and policies.

According to the Vatican, the two sides need to regularly maintain dialogue channels through the Vatican's non-resident Special Envoy to Vietnam, and the Vatican will make efforts to coordinate well with the Vietnamese Government to resolve issues to promote relations between the two sides./.

According to VNA - LT