Archbishop Denounces Behavior of Hanoi Authorities

Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet highlights the government's failure to honor its promise to give back the former building of the nunciature.

HANOI (AsiaNews) - There are "numerous obstacles" in the dialogue with the authorities of Hanoi and in the inability to solve the matter of the former nunciature, highlighting that the lack of good will on the part of the government has also made it more difficult to solve the question of the land belonging to the parish of Thai Ha.

This is the judgment that the archbishop of Hanoi, Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet, has expressed in an interview with VietCatholic News. The publicity campaign against the Catholics conducted by the state media has also blocked a positive solution.

"The stall over the return of the former Hanoi nunciature", he says, "is one of the reasons that make people not trust the willingness of the government for a constructive dialogue to solve the Thai Ha issue". "The dispute over the former nunciature", he continues, "has dragged on for more than eight months. We have followed the policy of the Holy See to solve the dispute with frank dialogue. But it seems to be so slow, and that very slowness impacts heavily on the Thai Ha issue".

The archbishop is referring to the initiative undertaken at the end of January, to give the building of the former nunciature back to the Church. Following this promise, which Archbishop Ngo Quang Kiet confirmed publicly, the peaceful demonstrations on the part of Catholics (in the photo) were suspended on the property surrounding the building. The authorities were supposed to have taken a series of steps to implement their commitment, but nothing happened. "The government", the archbishop comments in this regard, "must have some break-throughs, some innovations".