Vietnam-Holy See Joint Working Group meeting in Vatican

(June 12, 2013) June 12, 2013 - A two-day meeting of the Vietnam-Holy See Joint Working Group is starting in the Vatican on Thursday, the Vatican’s Press Office said on Tuesday. This is the 4th such meeting , that was decided upon at the previous meeting which was held in Vietnam in February, 2012. The June 13-14 meeting in the Vatican aims to deepen and develop bilateral relations between Vietnam and the Holy See, Holy See's spokesman, Fr. Federico Lombardi said.
There have been tensions for decades between the Catholic Church and the Hanoi government over church property seized by the Communists, appointment of bishops and other issues. But relations between them have warmed in recent years with easing of restrictions on Vietnam’s Catholic community and exchange of visits by top officials. Pope Benedict XVI received president Nguyen Minh Triet of Vietnam in the Vatican in December 2009, the first head of the southeast Asian nation to visit a pope. Full diplomatic relations between the two sides has not been established as yet, but in January, 2011 Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, Apostolic Nuncio to Singapore was nominated also the Pontifical Representative to Vietnam.
Vietnam's some 6 million Catholics represent 6.87% of the nation’s population.
Source: Sedoc