Pope Francis received the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Vo Van Thuong, accompanied by his entourage, in a private audience at the Library of the Apostolic Palace, on 27 July, Thursday.
The Holy See Press Office reported that the meeting began around 3:00 p.m. (local time) and lasted about 20 minutes. The Pope then spent another 10 minutes greeting the Vietnamese delegation.
In this context, the Holy See and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam announced in a joint communiqué the conclusion of the Agreement on the Statute of the Resident Pontifical Representative and the Office of the Resident Pontifical Representative in Vietnam.
“On the occasion of the visit of the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, HE Vo Van Thuong, to the Vatican on July 27, 2023, on the basis of the 10th Session of the Joint Working Group between Vietnam and the Holy See on July 31 March 2023 in the Vatican, and with the desire to continue advancing in bilateral relations, both parties officially announce that the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Holy See have concluded the ‘Agreement on the Statute of the Resident Pontifical Representative and the Office of the Resident Pontifical Representative in Vietnam’”.
During talks between President Vo Van Thuong and Pope Francis, and later with the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, both sides expressed high appreciation for the remarkable progress in relations between Vietnam and the Holy See and the positive contributions made by the Asian Catholic community to date.
“Both parties – read the joint statement – expressed their confidence that the Pontifical Resident Representative will fulfill the role and mandate given in the Agreement, will provide support to the Vietnamese Catholic community in its commitments in the spirit of the law and, always inspired by the Magisterium of the Church, fulfill the vocation of “accompanying the nation” and being “good Catholics and good citizens”, contributing to the development of the country, while the Representative will be a bridge to advance relations between Vietnam and the Holy thirst”.
For the past five years, the Vatican and Vietnam have been holding a series of Working Group meetings to develop and deepen bilateral relations. It should be remembered that the Pope’s last meeting with a Vietnamese head of state took place in 2016, with then-President Tran Đại Quang.
The Holy See has a representative in Vietnam, Archbishop Marek Zalewski, who is also Nuncio to Singapore and was authorized by the Vietnamese government to visit the country. Last year it was agreed “in principle” to open a permanent office in Hanoi, and now this has become a reality, re-establishing a representation in the country. In this way, almost half a century later, in 2023, there was once again a representation of the Holy See in Vietnam, after the expulsion of the apostolic delegate by the communist government in 1975.