ICC Note:
Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli called on Vietnamese government in his recent homily to respect religious freedom and view Catholic Church as something positive instead of problematic. Although Communist Vietnam has improved its ties with the Holy See over the years, at local level tensions can still be seen in church-state relations.
08/18/2017 Vietnam (Vatican Radio) –The Pontifical representative to Vietnam has called on the Southeast Asian nation’s communist government to respect religious freedom, saying it should regard the Catholic Church as something positive and not a problem to the country.
Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, the non-resident representative of the Vatican to Vietnam, made the call during a Mass he presided over on Aug. 13 on the occasion of the 31st anniversary of the Marian Congress, held at the national shrine of Our Lady of La Vang in Quang Tri Province, central Vietnam.
Delivering a homily to a large gathering of pilgrims, Archbishop Girelli touched upon the issue of religious freedom in the country. “In some provinces, civil authorities are anxious and complain about the Catholics and their deeds,” said the archbishop. The 64-year old Italian prelate advised the gathering on the wisdom of St. Peter’s words “We must obey God rather than men” and of Jesus, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” “I would like to tell the Vietnamese Caesars to give to God what is God’s,” he said, to which the congregation responded with a large round of applause.
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