General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and State President To Lam met with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin in New York on September 22 (local time) on the sidelines of the United Nations Summit of the Future and the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
At the meeting, the two sides highly evaluated positive progress in relations between Vietnam and the Vatican, notably the Vatican’s Resident Papal Representative in Vietnam and the Office of the Resident Papal Representative in Hanoi began operations in 2024.
Lam thanked Pope Francis for his sympathy and encouragement to the Vietnamese people to overcome the consequence of typhoon Yagi. The top leader highly appreciated the fine sentiments that the Pope and the Secretary of State have reserved for Vietnam and stressed that Vietnam has created favourable conditions for pastoral visits by the current Resident Papal Representative and the non-resident special envoy in the past.
Lam highly evaluated the messages, teachings and letters sent by the previous Popes and Pope Francis to the Catholic community in Vietnam, which highlighted the spirit of “good Christians and good citizens” and encouraged the Vietnam Catholic Church to contribute to the national life, for the interests of the whole nation in the sprit of dialogue and cooperation.
Parolin recalled his good impression of Vietnam during his previous visit and affirmed that the Vietnam Catholic Church always wants accompany the country’s development in the spirit of sincerity, responsibility and trust.
The two leaders held that maintaining the exchange of high-level delegations and the meetings of the Vietnam-Vatican joint working group has played an important role in promoting mutual respect and understanding.
Parolin affirmed that the Vatican’s Resident Papal Representative has actively cooperated with Vietnam and Pope Francis wants to visit Vietnam soon, thus helping to promote connections between the Vatican and the Vietnam Catholic Church and further enhance the relations between the Vatican and Vietnam.
