Viet cardinal scolds media for twisting prelate's words

September 23, 2008

Cardinal Jean Baptiste Pham Minh Man of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) has criticized state-controlled media outlets in Vietnam for distorting a statement by Hanoi's Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet.

The cardinal charged that media reports had seized on an isolate phrase in a comment by the archbishop and pulled it out of context to make him appear unpatriotic. The archbishop's actual comment, he observed, was intended "in the opposite direction." Media outlets have been engaged in a propaganda campaign against Church leaders in Hanoi as part of a Church-state confrontation over seized property.

In a separate statement the Archdiocese of Hanoi said that the archbishop's comment had been "tailored and left out of context in order to lie and falsely accuse" him of unpatriotic intent.

 

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Further information:

• Cardinal Pham Minh Man slams manipulation by state media (AsiaNews)