Vatican Senses More Religious Freedom in Vietnam

THE UNIVERSE, Dec. 13 — A Vatican official believes that establishing new dioceses in communist Vietnam should not be problematic, the British daily reported.

Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, made that assessment in the wake of recent conversations he had with Vietnamese authorities.

On Nov. 22, Benedict XVI established the Diocese of Ba-Ria in Vietnam, with territory taken from the Diocese of Xuan Loc. The establishment of the diocese was announced two days earlier by the Vietnamese government “because of the very great number of Catholics,” at the request of the Vatican and the Vietnamese bishops’ conference.

The Holy See and Vietnam do not enjoy diplomatic relations, but delegations from the Holy See have been visiting the country in recent years. About 6 million of Vietnam’s 83 million inhabitants are Catholics.

Of his Nov. 28-Dec. 5 visit, Cardinal Sepe told Vatican Radio that he found “an extremely dynamic and lively Church.” The cardinal was positive about prospects for further developments in the Church in Vietnam and in relations with the authorities, and mentioned that “in recent years very important steps have been taken in recognition, also by the government, of what the activity of the Church is.”

Holy Father Says Virtuous Life Is Not Boring

ASSOCIATED PRESS, Dec. 10 — Pope Benedict decried what he called the mistaken idea that leading a virtuous life was “boring” as he marked the 40th anniversary of Vatican Council II Dec. 8, Associated Press reported.

The Holy Father praised his predecessors in the papacy for guiding the Church “on the route of authentic council-[inspired] renewal, working ceaselessly for the faithful interpretation and implementation” of the council.

During a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, Benedict used his homily to talk about use of freedom and its relationship with evil.

“Man nurtures the suspicion that God, at the end of the day, takes something away from his life, that God is a competitor who limits our freedom and that we will be fully human only when we  have set him aside,” Benedict said. “There emerges in us the suspicion that the person who doesn’t sin at all is basically a boring person, that something is lacking in his life, the dramatic dimension of being autonomous, that the freedom to say No belongs to real human beings.”

In remarks after Mass, the Pope urged people to “overcome the temptation of a mediocre life, made of compromises with evil.”