During the meeting, Deputy Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son affirmed Vietnam’s Party and State’s consistent policy of respecting people’s right to freedom of belief and ensuring the equality among religions.

He valued the Vietnamese Catholics’ role in the country’s socio-economic life in the past and at present and acknowledged recent encouraging progress in relations with the Vatican.

Deputy FM Son expressed his wish that the non-resident pontifical representative to Vietnam would guide the Vietnam Catholic Church in implementing Pope Benedict XVI’s teachings during the Ad limina in June, 2009 in the spirit of living the gospel among the nation, and a good Catholic who is also a good citizen.

Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli thanked the concerned Vietnamese agencies for creating favourable conditions for his first working visit to Vietnam from April 18-May 1.

The representative stressed that the Vatican and himself personally will spare no effort to promote the two sides’ relations, contributing to helping the Vietnam Catholic community follow the motto of “living well in one’s life and one’s faith” and making contributions to the national development cause.

During his stay in Vietnam, Archbishop Girelli is scheduled to take part in celebrations of Easter in Hanoi, attend the annual meeting of the Vietnam Episcopal Council, the first of its kind in 2011, in Ho Chi Minh City, and visit some local dioceses.

VNA