Crackdown in Hanoi

BY SIMON ROUGHNEEN
Register Correspondent
Posted 10/28/08 at 9:55 AM
SINGAPORE — Vietnam’s communist authorities have upped the ante in an ongoing dispute with the Catholic Church. Now, they’re calling for the removal of Archbishop Joseph Ngo Quang Kiet of Hanoi.
According to the state-run Vietnam News Agency, Nguyen The Thao, chairman of the Hanoi People’s Committee, told foreign [...]

In the country of ‘Uncle Ho’: Persecution of Catholics

By Lorenzo Fazzini
10/27/2008
Chiesa
If I were to tell you openly everything that they are doing against the Church, tomorrow they would arrest me and put me in prison
ROMA (Chiesa) – “You don’t know the communists. If I were to tell you openly everything that they are doing against the Church, tomorrow they would arrest me [...]

Vietnamese Catholics respond to Hanoi official’s call for archbishop’s transfer

Hanoi, Oct 18, 2008 / 01:39 pm (CNA).- The ongoing property dispute between the Catholic Church in Vietnam and government officials has continued with the Chairman of the People’s Committee of Hanoi asserting that the Archbishop of Hanoi must be transferred.
The chairman, who could become Vietnam’s next prime minister, claimed the prelate lacks a “good [...]

Hanoi’s path to property crosses Catholics

By Andrew Symon
Are hardliners in Vietnam’s Communist Party-led government now calling the tune? That is one interpretation for the recent crackdown on large-scale demonstrations led by Vietnamese Catholics who have demanded a return of former church property nationalized in Hanoi when the communists first took power over 50 years ago.
Religious protesters have been beaten, arrested [...]

Vietnam must free Catholics: Rights group

AFP Published:Oct 05, 2008
Hanoi – Communist Vietnam should free Catholics arrested for holding peaceful prayer vigils and hold police and others accountable for attacking parishioners, a US-based human rights group said.
At least eight Hanoi parishioners had been arrested since mid-August when Catholics started their latest round of protests for the return of church lands confiscated [...]

Vietnam warns Catholics against mass protests

Vietnam’s prime minister has warned Roman Catholic leaders the communist state will not tolerate mass protests by followers demanding the return of seized church land.
Prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung criticised Catholic mass gatherings held in two parishes of the capital Hanoi in recent months, in talks with Vietnam Episcopal Council leader Bishop Nguyen Van Nhon.
He [...]

Vietnam land dispute: clergy did not violate Church laws

BANGKOK (UCAN) — Vietnam’s bishops have affirmed that local clergy engaged in land disputes with the government in Ha Noi have not violated canon law, after the government petitioned them to deal with those clergy.
Nguyen The Thao, head of the People’s Committee of Ha Noi, petitioned the Vietnam Bishops’ Conference to “deal strictly and according [...]

Vietnam: Authorities Bulldoze Building in Land Dispute

Compass Direct News

September 30, 2008
HANOI (Compass Direct News) – Authorities in Hanoi have responded to months of Catholic prayer vigils and demonstrations over disputed land by destroying the one-time residence of the papal nuncio in central Hanoi.
In suddenly bulldozing the land that once served as the Vatican embassy and residence near St. Joseph’s Cathedral last [...]

Archbishop of Hanoi: freedom of religion is a right, not a concession from the authorities

by J.B. An Dang
With a new campaign in the media, the authorities are trying to eliminate popular support for the Catholics. A gang of thugs threatens the faithful going to pray at Thai Ha, and even bursts into the church, shouting obscenities. Expressions of solidarity from the other dioceses of Vietnam, and also from the [...]

In Ho Chi Minh City calls for justice and prayer for those who “persecute us”

7000 Vietnamese Catholics Gather for Prayer and Solidarity
By Ngo Quang Kiet
9/26/2008
Asia News
7,000 people took part in a prayer vigil during which participants express communion with Hanoi Catholics, victims of a vicious attack by city authorities and the Communist Party.
HO CHI MINH CITY (AsiaNews) – 7,000 Catholics held a vigil in Ho Chi Minh City during [...]