The release of 12,264 prisoners marked the 25th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War on April 30. The New York-based Human Rights Watch identified the two Christian prisoners released as Brother John Euder Mai Duc Chuong of the Congregation of the Mother Co-Redemptrix, and Vu Gian Thao. Brother Chuong was arrested in 1987 for disrupting public security and “conducting propaganda to oppose the socialist regime and undermining the policy of unity.” He was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Thao was arrested in 1997 for “abusing religious freedom and infringing on the state’s rights,” and sentenced to three years in prison.

Human rights groups have reported that religious believers in Vietnam are routinely subject to arrest, harassment, and restrictions on travel when their religious beliefs are determined to be in opposition to Communist doctrine. Human Rights Watch estimates that at least 40 religious or political dissidents remain in prison.

The delegation, led by Archbishop Celestino Migliore from the Secretariat of State and Msgr. Barnaba Phuong of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, left Rome on April 30 and remained in Vietnam from May 2 to 6. The Vatican representatives met with government officials to continue talks about the relationship between the government and the Catholic Church. A similar meeting had been held in March 1999.

The most important issue on the agenda was the appointment of bishops. Three dioceses are now without a bishop. In the Haiphong and Bui Chu diocese, the vacancy occurred in 1999; in Hung Hoa, there has been no bishop since 1992. However, the Vietnamese government still insists that it must approve all episcopal appointments. And Fides reports that the government response was “cold” to propositions from Rome. Last year, the Vatican delegation had managed to win approval for the appointment of four new bishops. This year’s meetings produced no new announcements.

Another key issue for the Church-state discussions was the possibility of formal diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Vietnam. At last year’s meetings the Vietnamese government had promised to pursue the possibility of establishing such ties by making direct contact with the Vatican Secretariat of State to discuss details. A year later, no such contact had been made. And in this year’s set of discussions, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not even mention the prospect of diplomatic ties.

Similarly, the government officials rejected Vatican efforts to gain greater freedom for the bishops in recruiting young men to the seminaries. The government now exercises strict control on seminary admissions, setting strict limits on the number of candidates for the priesthood and barring the entry of any new candidates into religious orders. For several years the government has been promising to allow the opening of a new seminary in Xuan Loc, but bureaucratic delays have stalled that project as well.

According to Fides sources, the stalemate in negotiations between the Holy See and the Vietnamese government has been caused at least in part by a sharp division within the country’s Communist Party leadership. The Party is now split between the “reformers” led by Prime Minister Phan Van Kai and the “hard-liners” led by Party Secretary Le Ka Phieu, the Fides sources say. The disputes between these two groups have become so pronounced that at their April meeting, the Communist Party membership was unable to generate consensus support for any statement on the country’s future.

Vietnamese foreign minister Nguyen Dy Nien was quietly welcomed to Rome on May 27 by Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, the Vatican’s Secretary for Relations with States. The low-key meeting was described by Vatican sources as a “courtesy call.” The Vietnamese minister was in Italy for meetings with government officials there.