Cardinal Dias made the wish at a reception given by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in Hanoi on Jan. 8.
CardinalDias, who attended the closing ceremony of the Catholic Church ofVietnam Jubilee Year 2010 at the La Vang parish in the central provinceof Quang Tri as ambassador of Pope Benedict XVI, took the occasion tohighlight Vietnam’s national and religious policy.
He conveyedbest wishes from Pope Benedict XVI to the Vietnamese Party, State andpeople and affirmed the Vatican’s goodwill and strong wish to promoteits cooperative relations with Vietnam.
The Vatican isimplementing many charitable, medical, educational and other activitiesin various nations worldwide and hopes to receive Vietnam’s activesupport and cooperation in the fields, he said.
For his part, PMDung said Vietnam is happy at both sides’ goodwill and theVietnam-Vatican relationship is seeing positive development.
Theresult of Cardinal Dias’ current visit would make practicalcontributions to the fine development of cooperative relations betweenVietnam and the Vatican, he said.
The PM affirmed the wish of notonly the Vietnamese State but also its Catholic church and parishionersto continue developing its fine cooperative relationship with theVatican.
Vietnam is a country with 54 ethnic groups and all majorreligions, including Catholicism, Protestanism and Muslim, in the worldare present in Vietnam, said the PM, adding that Vietnam has its twoown religions, namely Cao Dai and Hoa Hoa.
The Vietnamese Partyand State has pursued a consistent policy of unity, equality and mutualassistance among ethnic groups and religions to jointly build aprosperous and civilised nation. The Vietnamese Party and State alwayscreate favourable conditions for ethnic groups and religions to developin an equal manner and in accordance with the law, he emphasised
Vietnamalways considers the Catholic followers as its inseparable part andcreates favourable conditions for them to conduct their religiousactivities and well perform citizens’ rights, benefits and tasks in linewith the laws, he said.
In the immediate term as well as longterm, Vietnam will always be consistent in implementing its religiousand ethnic group policy, he stressed.
“Like any other States inthe world, in Vietnam, if any Vietnamese citizen, whether he isreligious or non-religious follower, breaks the law, he will be strictlypunished in accordance with the current law,” said the PM./.