Vietnam: thousands of Catholics defy government, gather to pray in homes
September 09, 2010
An estimated 4,000 Vietnamese Catholics in three northwestern provinces are defying local government bans on public religious activities and are gathering to pray in homes.
“I am very happy that 120 local Catholics now gather regularly at my home on Sundays to pray,” said Joseph Nguyen Van Tien, a father of five who has been interrogated several times by police. “We fear nothing because we gather to pray for ourselves to live better lives and for our relatives on their death anniversaries.”
7% of the Communist nation’s 85.2 million people are Catholic, according to Vatican statistics.
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