At a meeting with the Vietnamese leader on the evening of November 23 (Vatican time), the Pope recalled his fine memories of his meetings with Vietnam’s senior leaders in recent years. He also expressed his sentiment toward the Southeast Asian nation.
The Vatican highly values the country’s achievements in socioeconomic development, along with its collection of opinions from the public prior to its approval of the Law of Belief and Religion, he said.
President Quang thanked the Pope for his sentiments towards Vietnam and voiced his delight at the encouraging developments in bilateral relations.
Vietnam consistently respects and ensures the right to freedom of religion or belief for all people, he affirmed, adding that it has also continually fine-tuned the legal framework for ensuring that right.
He and Pope Francis shared the same view of the progress in Vietnam-Vatican relations as seen through high-level meetings and continued dialogue via the joint working group mechanism.
With appreciation for the active contributions of Vietnam’s Catholic community to the nation, they underlined that the Catholic Church in Vietnam should operate in line with the law and that Catholics should lead good secular and religious lives and be good citizens.
They also agreed to continue dialogue and meetings between the two sides.
The meeting took place in a sincere and straightforward manner with mutual respect.
On the occasion of his visit, President Quang also met with Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin to exchange views on the situation of Catholicism in Vietnam and on Vietnam-Vatican relations.
