Pope hosts Vietnamese prime minister in move toward normal relations

Published: 2007-01-25

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Signaling continued improvement in Vatican-Vietnamese relations, Pope Benedict XVI hosted the first ever visit of a prime minister from Vietnam's communist government. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and a nine-member government delegation, including the head of the government Commission for Religious Affairs, arrived at the Vatican Jan. 25. The Vatican said the meeting marked "a new and important step toward the normalization of bilateral relations," which have improved in recent years along with "greater spaces of religious freedom for the Catholic Church in Vietnam." The pope, prime minister and religious affairs director, Ngo Yen Thi, spent more than 25 minutes speaking privately before the entire Vietnamese delegation was introduced to the pope.

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