HA NOI (UCAN) -- Catholics in Vietnam have mixed views on a Vatican delegation's recent working visit to the country.

The three-member delegation led by Monsignor Pietro Parolin, undersecretary for relations with states -- the Vatican's "deputy foreign minister" -- was in the country June 9-15. Local Catholics expected this 15th such visit, the first having taken place in 1990, to take up the return of Church properties, episcopal nominations and establishment of diplomatic ties.

A bishop of a northern diocese, who asked not to be named, told UCA News on June 18 that local Catholics expected the Vatican delegates in particular to work with government officials for the return of the former nunciature building in Ha Noi.

However, Antoine Nguyen Dinh Loc, a Catholic lay leader in the capital, told UCA News on June 16 that the Vatican delegates and government officials failed to reach agreement on Church issues, notably on returning the nunciature building, confiscated in 1959, five years after northern communists defeated colonial French troops. Communist authorities confiscated or "borrowed" Church properties and land, at first in North Vietnam but throughout the country after they reunified Vietnam in 1975.

Loc said Ha Noi archdiocesan leaders and government authorities have in recent months met and discussed ways to resolve the nunciature issue, but without success.

"We continue to pray for justice to be implemented," he said, adding that the delay makes local Catholics doubt the authorities really intended to return the building as they promised Ha Noi archdiocesan leaders in January. The authorities failed to keep their promise and managed to avoid the issue, while the Vatican delegation was patient in dialoguing with them, he added.

Catholics demonstrated in Ha Noi last December and January demanding the return of building to the local Church.

The northern bishop cited earlier explained that Vietnam's bishops have petitioned the government to return the nunciature so they can use it as their headquarters, since the Church lacks facilities. But government authorities want to give the Church another plot of land instead. "We tell them it is important that justice must be done. Returning the nunciature should not be that big a problem," the bishop said.

Meanwhile, Father Emmanuel Nguyen Vinh Gioang, based in Quang Tri province, where the national Shrine of Our Lady of La Vang is located, expressed hope the Vatican delegation's visit to the national shrine would encourage the government to soon return land belonging to the shrine.

Regarding establishment of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Vietnam, the northern bishop said government officials reportedly say they are "not ready to establish diplomatic ties with the Vatican because it is not suitable at the moment."

The two sides set up a working group to talk about a "road map" for establishing diplomatic relations after Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung met Pope Benedict XVI in Rome in January 2007, he noted.

The bishop noted the two sides have different views on religious freedom. According to communist government officials, religious freedom means followers are free to practice their faith at places of worship while the Church also includes the freedom to express one's views. Both sides need to meet and dialogue so they can reach an agreement, he said.

As for talk of the pope visiting Vietnam in 2010, when the local Church celebrates the 50th anniversary of its hierarchy, "no one knows," the bishop said, because no one knows when diplomatic ties will be established.

The prelate added that he sees little hope of episcopal nominations being announced soon for the vacant northern dioceses of Bac Ninh and Phat Diem, and the central highland diocese of Ban Me Thuot. A major task of the working visits has been to settle episcopal nominations in the country.

Nonetheless, Father Gioang maintains the Vatican delegation's recent visit was yet another chance for both sides to exchange views on diplomatic ties and other issues, and gain a clearer mutual understanding.

An official statement the Vatican Information Service published on June 17 said both parties had paid attention "to the hoped-for normalization of bilateral relations."

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