Vietnamese cardinal says his visit to China will boost Catholic unity

Published: 2007-10-08

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (CNS) -- A Vietnamese cardinal said his recent visit to China will increase the unity and friendship of the Catholic Church in Vietnam and in China. Cardinal Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man of Ho Chi Minh City told the Asian church news agency UCA News Oct. 4, "The visit aimed to create solidarity and friendship, and establish close relations for the Catholic churches in Vietnam and China." In response to an invitation from China's State Administration for Religious Affairs, the cardinal led a five-person delegation to mainland China in late September. The delegates visited the Beijing-based headquarters of the government-sanctioned Bishops' Conference of the Catholic Church in China, as well as church leaders in the Beijing and Shanghai dioceses. They also met with Chinese state officials. Cardinal Man said the visit was "an opportunity for us to build communion between the two churches, because communion means to understand, sympathize with, and share spiritually and materially with each other."

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