Catholic World News News Feature

Viet Communist official demands transfer of Hanoi's archbishop October 17, 2008

A leading Vietnamese Communist Party official has called for the transfer of Hanoi's Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet, who has been roundly denounced by the government because of his support for Catholics protesting the seizure of Church-owned properties.

Nguyen The Thao, the chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee, met with foreign diplomats on October 15, and told them that the confrontations between police and Catholic demonstrators could be traced to "a poor awareness of the law" among the protestors, the state-run Vietnam News Agency reported. Thao charged that "a number of priests, led by Archbishop Ngo Quang Kiet, took advantage of parishioners’ beliefs and their own low awareness of the law to instigate unrest, intentionally breaking the law and acting contrary to the interests of both the nation and the Church."

The Vietnamese government has battered the archbishop and the Catholic activists of Hanoi in a propaganda campaign, using the state media to accuse the demonstrators of disrespect for the law. Catholic activists have persistently argued that they can demonstrate that the Church holds legal title to the disputed properties, but their claims are rarely aired in the government-controlled media.

In a typical illustration of the government's media power, the Saigon Liberated newspaper reported that after Thao's meeting with ambassadors stationed in Hanoi, "the foreign diplomats thanked Mr. Chairman for the information and highly praised the solution of Hanoi People’s Committee for land disputes with the Church."

Catholics in Hanoi feared that the highly unusual meeting between Thao (who is in effect the mayor of Hanoi) and a group of assembled diplomats was scheduled in order to gauge the envoys' attitude toward possible government action against Church officials. The Saigon Liberated reported Thao's insistence that "the Hanoi archbishop must be transferred out of Hanoi as he has neither reputation nor creditability with the city’s citizens, including Catholic faithful."

Catholic clerics in Hanoi took issue with the government's propaganda line. "No one from a civilized society 'highly praised' overt persecutions against peaceful believers," said Father John Nguyen. "You can be assured that had a diplomat spoken something in favor of this government’s deeds then surely his name would be on all state media no later than the next day." Father Pascal Nguyen Ngoc Tinh of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) added the observation that Archbishop Ngo Quang Kiet is highly regarded by Catholics and non-Catholics alike. The real reason for the regime's hostility, he said, is that "the prelate had the bold courage to state the religious freedom is a legal right, not a privilege."