On the afternoon of July 27, Mr. Vo Van Thuong, President of Communist Vietnam went to the Vatican and met with the head of this small country, Pope Francis.
The two sides signed an agreement on the status of the permanent representative of the Holy See in Vietnam. Accordingly, the representative office of the Vatican will be located in Hanoi.
This is the result of a long process, so that the two sides have a date to establish diplomatic relations.
After 1975, when taking power over the entire territory of Vietnam, the Communist Party robbed many religious establishments. At the same time, at that time they asked the Apostolic Nuncio to leave Vietnam. Receiving this request, in August of the same year, the Apostolic Nuncio left Saigon, ending the presence of the Vatican representative in Vietnam. Since then, the Vatican and the Vietnamese Communist government have no diplomatic relations.
The Communist Party has always targeted Catholicism and Buddhism. Either the Communists must control religion, or the religion must be banned. It was Karl Marx who likened religion to “opium“? The Communists relied on this hostile comment of the Communist forefather to fight religion.
In 1981, the Communist government established the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, and considered it a recognized Buddhist organization. Many dignitaries in the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha are Communists, one of which is monk Thich Thanh Sam, who has been in the Party for 50 years. It is unclear between his Party age and Tu’s age, which one is older.
Talking about Buddhism, it seems that the Communist government has been able to control it. The tool pagodas for the Communists took the hot pot brand “Buddhism- Nationalism-Socialism” to act.
Buddhism takes compassion as the priority, loves sentient beings, and even animals, then, at that time, there are no borders, no limits, but what is the use of adding “Nationalism” to the Buddhism? Then there is the combination of Socialism and Buddhism, while these two concepts have absolutely no similarity. In fact, this slogan has affirmed that Vietnamese Buddhism is a tool for the Communist Party.
With Catholicism, the Communist Party has always tried to control, but failed. Although there are still some pro-Communist priests, overall, the Communist Party of Vietnam cannot control Catholicism as it wants. Catholics and the clergy only obey their superiors, that is, they turn to the Vatican, not to the Communist Party.
No matter how long the Communists rule the country of Vietnam, this Party will not do anything Catholic. At the most, they robbed the church land and banned religious activities, just like in the time of the Christian prohibition. Catholicism has experienced thousands of years with many persecutions, but only feudal dynasties have collapsed while Catholicism has always survived, this happens all over the world, not just Vietnam. So, banning religion is useless.
It can be said that, since 1975, the Communist Party is the embodiment of Satan. They bring poverty to the people, bring ignorance, bring shackles, etc. And it is because of that that the Communist government has confronted Catholicism for many years.
Vo Van Thuong’s visit to the Vatican, and Vietnam’s move to establish diplomatic relations with the Holy See, is clearly a sign that Satan has stepped back. Satan had to accept Catholic activity in Vietnam, and this indirectly admits, they have failed to turn Catholicism into a tool for the Communist government. Although there are constraints, such as priestly ordination or episcopal ordination, permission is required from the Communist government.
Catholicism has more than 2,000 years of existence and development, Buddhism is also more than 2500 years. These two religions also experienced great persecution, but still persisted. It can be said that religion is forever, and political dynasties are temporary. Communism will eventually perish, but religion will live on.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
