Following the historic 2023 agreement that allowed for the first resident papal representative in Vietnam since 1975, Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính met with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher in Hanoi on April 10.
Gallagher, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations, is on a five-day visit to Vietnam.
The prime minister said that the nation respects religious freedom and “expressed his hope that Vietnamese Catholics will further lead a good religious and secular life and contribute more to strengthening the great national solidarity bloc,” the state-run Vietnam News Agency reported. Archbishop Gallagher expressed hope that the Catholic community will “contribute more to the country’s prosperous development.”
Both Archbishop Gallagher and the prime minister “shared the view on the need to push ahead with high-level contacts, including Pope Francis’s visit to Vietnam.” Archbishop Gallagher also invited the prime minister to visit the Vatican.