Vietnam is under the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Metropolitanate of Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, which is subject to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The Russian Orthodox Church also has one parish in the Vietnamese port city of Vung Tau. Otherwise, most Christians in Vietnam are Roman Catholic or Protestant. This government encroachment on the property of the Roman Catholic Church has ominous implications for all the Christians of Vietnam, and is yet another example of how the persecution of Christians is often abetted by or even initiated by government authorities.
“Construction on Church Property in Hanoi Continues Despite Protests,” International Christian Concern, December 4, 2018:
12/04/2018 Vietnam (International Christian Concern) – In the capital of Vietnam, the district has been planning to build a state-run school on the Hanoi Archdiocese church’s property. Last month, Cardinal Peter Nguyen Van Nhon of Hanoi wrote an urgent petition in disagreement to the construction of the school, yet the district ignored the petition.
Now, priests from Hanoi Archdioceses are stepping up to protest against the construction of the state-fun school. Yesterday, on December 3rd Father Alfonse Pham Hung, head of the archdiocese’s office, and Father Bruno Pham Ba Que, head of Caritas in the archdiocese alongside of 15 other priests visited the headquarters of the People’s Committee of Hoan Kiem district.
The priests went with the intentions of discussing the issues related to the construction of Trang An Elementary School on the church’s 6,737 square meter property. The priests demand that the district shut down the construction and listen to the cardinals petition….
Photo by Eustaquio Santimano – Flickr: Statue of our Lady, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17514841
