attempts to improve ties with the Vatican, BosNewsLife established Wednesday, November 23.
The announcement came just a day after news emerged that 57 Catholic priests will be ordained in Vietnam, the largest number of clergy to be added to the Asian nation.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai "has given the green light for the new Ba Ria diocese," splitting it from the Xuan Loc diocese which had too many laity, the government’s Religious Affairs Commission said.
The country has 26 Catholic dioceses to serve its up to eight million Catholics among a population of more than 84 million, the second-largest Catholic country in Asia after the Philippines, experts say. There are no official figures on the number of Catholics in China.
"We had some exchanges with the Vatican before arriving at the decision," said the Religious Affairs Commission official on condition of anonymity.
PRIME MINISTER’S DECISION
[Prime Minister] Khai apparently made the decision earlier this year following a request from the Vatican and the Episcopal Council of the Catholic Church in Vietnam. "It has only been made public now because the Catholics needed time to prepare for it," the official said.
The development comes before a nine-day visit by Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, the Vatican’s prefect for the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
Hanoi and the Vatican still have no diplomatic relations, but a church official in Hanoi explained that Cardinal Sepe was to meet Khai "in a personal capacity" and would oversee the ordination of an unprecedented 57 priests in Hanaoi later this week.
POPE AND VIETNAM
Pope Benedict XVI said soon after his election that he would favor normalizing ties with Vietnam and China and Saudi Arabia. The Pontiff has said he appreciated the way Hanoi had sent immediate condolences after John Paul II died in April.
Human rights watchers have cautioned however that Vietnam’s Communist leadership is still suspicious towards Catholics because it fears their numbers and loyalty to the Vatican could be a threat to the state. Vietnamese authorities still control the number of bishops which are ordained, analysts say.
But foreign observers have noted improvements in recent months and said it "is only a matter of time" before the two sides normalize relations.
