The Vatican’s top diplomat begins a six-day visit to Vietnam on Tuesday as part of efforts to normalize relations with the communist country.

Holy See Foreign Minister Richard Gallagher met with his Vietnamese counterpart Bui Thanh Son and expressed the Vatican’s “gratitude” for the progress made in improving relations. The visit comes after Archbishop Marek Zalewski became the first Vatican representative to live and open an office in the Southeast Asian country.

“This visit is very important,” Son said.

Gallagher will also meet Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and visit a children’s hospital in the capital, Hanoi, the state-run Vietnam News Agency reported. He will celebrate masses in Hanoi, Hue in central Vietnam and the financial center of Ho Chi Minh City in the south.

Giorgio Bernardelli, director of Catholic missionary news AsiaNews, said Gallagher’s visit to Hanoi, the Vatican’s No. 2, was an “important moment” and showed that both sides are waiting to upgrade to full diplomatic relations. , relations between the two countries continue. mechanism.

After the Vietnam War ended in 1975, the Communist Party established its rule over the entire country, and relations between the Vatican and Vietnam were severed. Although the two sides have held regular talks since at least the late 1990s, relations have been tense since then.

The agreement to appoint the Vatican’s Permanent Representative to Vietnam was signed in July 2023 during former President Vo Van Thang’s visit to the Holy See. Thuong also invited Pope Francis to visit Vietnam. But Thuong has since resigned, becoming the latest victim of a fierce anti-corruption campaign.

Bernardelli said a potential papal visit could be discussed, adding that it would also depend on the political situation in Hanoi following the president’s resignation

He said improved relations with Vietnam could also have an impact on the Holy See’s relations with communist-ruled China. Relations with Vietnam have been a “point of reference, but with important differences” because, unlike China, Vietnam has been keen to improve relations with the Vatican and the West.

Beijing severed diplomatic relations with the Vatican in 1951 after the Communists came to power and expelled foreign priests.

Catholicism has officially become the most practiced religion in Vietnam. In the 2019 census, 5.9 million people (or 13.2 million religious people) said they were Catholic, accounting for 44.6%. This applies to more than 6% of the country’s population.