Hanoi (AsiaNews/Agencies) Sources in Hanoi have indicated that Benedict XVI has appointed a new bishop for the diocese of Danang last Saturday with the agreement of Vietnamese authorities. The Holy See has not yet confirmed the report.
Mgr Joseph Chau Ngoc Tri, 49, would replace 75-year-old Mgr Nguyen Binh Tinh.
If confirmed, the decision is a sign that relations between Vietnam and the Holy See have improved.
Vietnamese authorities have recently given to go-ahead to the appointment of bishops and have relaxed seminary restrictions and ordinations to the priesthood. This culminated on November 19 with the ordination of 57 new priests in Hanoi by Card Crescenzio Sepe, prefect of the Congregation for the evangelisation of peoples.
The establishment of normal diplomatic relations, hitherto non existent, is thought to be close.
Hanoi's desire to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) seems to be behind the Vietnamese government's greater openness towards the Church. Similarly the Communist regime finds it useful that the Catholic Church provides services such as health care and education in the schools, especially kindergarten.
From the regime's point of view, spreading moral values by the Roman Catholic Church can have an equally positive impact in a country suffering from widespread corruption.
Vietnam has one of the largest Catholic communities in Asia: six million people constituting seven per cent of the population. Only the Philippines and East Timor proportionately have more Catholics.