Pope names 1st resident representative in Vietnam since 1975

December 26, 2023

Pope Francis has appointed Archbishop Marek Zalewski, apostolic nuncio in Singapore, as papal resident representative in Vietnam—a first since 1975, when North Vietnam completed its invasion of South Vietnam, fusing the two into one Communist nation, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

The appointment follows a July agreement between the Holy See and Vietnam and a September papal letter to Vietnam’s Catholics on the residential papal representative.

“Following an interruption in relations in 1975, encouraging developments began in 1990 leading to the appointment in 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI of a nonresident papal representative to the nation,” Vatican News, the news agency of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication. reported.

Vietnam “stands ready to promote its relations with the Vatican on the basis of respecting independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, not interfering in each other’s internal affairs, and actively contributing to peace, cooperation and development in the world,” said Vu Chien Thang, Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, according to a paraphrase of his remarks by the Vietnam News Agency’s Vietnam Law and Legal Forum magazine.

The last Apostolic Delegate to Vietnam, Archbishop Henri Lemaître, was transferred to Uganda in December 1975, eight months after Saigon (the capital of South Vietnam, since renamed Ho Chi Minh City) fell to the invading forces of North Vietnam. Although Archbishop Zalewski is the first resident papal representative in Vietnam since 1975, he is the first resident papal representative to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in its history.

With 98.9 million people, Vietnam ranks 16th in population among the world’s nations; 6% of the nation’s people are Catholic. The number of priests serving in many of the nation’s dioceses has increased significantly since 2000: in the Archdiocese of Hanoi (the nation’s capital), the number rose from 41 to 203 between 2000 and 2021; in the Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City, the number rose from 453 to 886 between 2000 and 2020; in the Archdiocese of Hue, the number rose from 76 to 143 between 2000 and 2021.

 

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Further information:

• Resignations and Appointments, 23.12.2023 (Holy See Press Office)
• Archbishop Zalewski appointed resident papal representative in Vietnam (Vatican News)
• Vietnam-Vatican relations at historic moment: Deputy Minister (Vietnam Law and Legal Forum)