The situation in Son La has been more or less the same since 2004 when Bishop Anthony Vu Huy Chuong, from the Diocese of Hung Hoa, petitioned local authorities for a permit to have two Catholic priests celebrate Mass at least twice a year, at Christmas and Easter.

Then Patriotic Front Chief Nguyen The Thao rejected the request, arguing that “since there are no Catholics in Son La, there is no need for such services.”

Not only was Thao’s decision a clear violation of religious freedom, it was also a patent lie because out of a population of about a million, Son La Province has about 3,000 Catholics from 40 different ethnic groups. The Church has documentary evidence of the presence of 700 families as far back as 1985.

Since then, the anti-Christian campaign by the authorities in Son La reached the point where they even tried to get ethnic Hmong to go back to their old pagan religion.

The situation was such that a US delegation investigating religious freedom came to town back in May. On the 19th of that month, it actually met some of the “non-existent” Catholics who dared speak about abuses and the patent violation of their right to religious freedom in front of the authorities.

Last Saturday, Fr Nguyen Trung Thoai was able to celebrate Mass for Our Lady of the Rosary in a hall made available by a local Catholic, Trinh Xuân Thuy.

Unlike previous years, police did not prevent people from coming.

More than a hundred courageous worshippers gathered (pictured) for the flower giving ceremony, a Vietnamese tradition, and the Eucharist.

Son La Catholics now hope that in the future Mass will not be the exception to the rule, but a regular, weekly, occurrence.

They believe the authorities had a change of heart because of their perseverance and courage over the years, the support of many human rights organisations and the upcoming release of the much feared US report on religious freedom, which could weigh heavily on US aid and investments in Vietnam.