Kelly-Ann Nguyen

Fr. Vincent Pham Trung Thanh was held for hours in the airport, and then sent home without any explanation. The Redemptorists are being targeted by police. They are active in defending the rights of the poor against social injustices, such as the illegal expropriation of land. They support the protests against China's aggressive stance.

The authorities’ attack was particularly harsh last Sunday on people peacefully demonstrating against China’s strong-arm tactics and violent behaviour. Catholics are especially concerned by the authorities’ possible acquiescence towards China’s model of ‘patriotic Church’.

The archdiocese of Saigon has removed a priest who was a candidate for election, but the phenomenon of clergy who work more or less openly with the regime is a serious concern, because it leads to the distancing of the faithful. The case of a priest who interrupted parishioners reciting the rosary to summon them to an election meeting.

Two of them were already members of the People's Congress. To make the news is the third, Phan Khac Tu, head of a newspaper known for its criticism of John Paul II and the Vatican, considered the father of two children and who boasts of having set up a bomb factory during the war inside a church.

Soon after the sham trial against a non-Catholic lawyer, defender of human rights, and attacks against those who peacefully followed the debate, the authorities fear a united front that might arise between believers and dissidents.