Note on Vietnamese Leader's Visit to Vatican
"Marks a New and Important Step"
VATICAN CITY, JAN. 25, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Here is the communiqué issued today by the Vatican press office after Benedict XVI received in audience Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung of Vietnam.
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This morning, Thursday, January 25, 2007, Nguyen Tan Dung, Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, was received in audience by the Holy Father Benedict XVI. He subsequently went on to meet Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B., and Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, Secretary for Relations with States.
The Holy See expressed its satisfaction for the visit, which marks a new and important step toward the normalization of bilateral relations. Those relations have, over the last few years, made concrete progress opening new spaces of religious freedom for the Catholic Church in Vietnam.
In the course of the discussions, attention turned to the problems that remain which, it is hoped, will be faced and resolved through existing channels of dialogue and will lead to a fruitful cooperation between Church and State, so that Catholics can, ever more effectively, make a positive contribution to the common good of the country, to promoting moral values, in particular among the young, to spreading a culture of solidarity and to charitable assistance in favor of the weaker sectors of the population.
Furthermore, opinions were exchanged on the current international situation, with a view to a joint commitment in favor of peace and of negotiated solutions to the serious problems of the present time.
This was the first time that a Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has met the Holy Father and the highest authorities of the Secretariat of State.
