Marx sees more freedom for Church

Although religious freedom had not yet been achieved in Vietnam, the Churches’ freedom of movement had steadily improved in recent years, Cardinal Reinhard Marx told katholisch.de during a nine-day visit to Vietnam.

He had the impression that the politicians he had spoken to were keen to give the Church more freedom in order to achieve a higher standard of living for the Vietnamese people.

 “They have nothing against the Church helping the poor. The ­president of the Vietnamese Fatherland Front [a  group of pro-government ‘mass movements’  close to the ruling Communist Party] told me he was proud that he had been able to award special prizes to 25 Catholic nursery schools,” said the cardinal.

The president, Nguyen Thien Nhan, had advised the bishops to promote schools, universities and all forms of educational work, Marx said. In his talks with Interior Ministry officials, Marx had underlined the need to do away with the restrictions imposed on religious communities and allow Churches  to engage more in social and educational work and health care.

Asked about his role in the rapprochement with Vietnam after a long diplomatic “ice age”, Marx replied: “I am not the Pope’s representative for foreign relations. That is the Cardinal Secretary of State [Pietro Parolin] who will soon be visiting Vietnam. But our dialogue partners here are relying on me to give the Pope positive feedback of my visit.”