Roman Catholics
Roman Catholics form the largest Christian group in Vietnam. The religion was brought to Vietnam during the 16th century and expanded during the 17th century. Alexandre de Rhodes, S.J., who was in Vietnam from 1624-1645 and who developed the present Vietnamese alphabet, headed one of the more prominent missions. Catholicism persisted despite recurrent persecutions until religious freedom for all Christians was guaranteed by treaties with the French regime late in the 19th century. Spokesmen for the church point out that cultural patterns not in conflict with church theology may be practiced. Thus, ancestor veneration is practiced in nearly all Vietnamese Roman Catholic homes.
In the 1960s the Roman Catholic Church counts 10.5 per cent of all South Vietnamese as members. This includes 650,000 Catholics who migrated from North Vietnam after the Geneva Accords of 1954. There are two Archdioceses and 13 Dioceses in South Vietnam. The Archbishops, at Saigon and Hue, and the 13 Bishops all are Vietnamese but one-a French Bishop at Kontum. Heavy concentrations of Catholics are in urban areas of Saigon, Nha Trang, Hue, Qui Nhon, Dalat and Kontum. The Vietnamese Armed Forces have had priests serving as chaplains since 1951.
By 2010 government statistics indicated there are 6.28 million Catholics, while other estimates place the number at eight million. Catholics live throughout the country, with the largest concentrations in the provinces around Ho Chi Minh City, in parts of the Central Highlands, and in the provinces southeast of Hanoi. Catholicism has revived in recent years with newly rebuilt or renovated churches and a growing number of persons who want to be religious workers. Three archbishops, 44 bishops, and nearly 4,000 priests oversaw 26 dioceses. There were more than 10,000 places of worship including six seminaries and two clergy training centers. The number preparing for the priesthood has grown by more than 50 percent over the past five years and totalled 1,500, according to the Vatican.
In the year 2010 Catholics held several large-scale Christmas and Easter Masses in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, and throughout the southern part of the country with thousands of individuals participating in each event. Several provinces in the Northwest Highlands, in areas known for greater restrictions, allowed celebration of Christmas Mass for the first time. Mirroring large-scale Christmas celebrations, thousands of Protestants and Catholics participated in Easter services throughout the country, including in the Central Highlands.
In November 2010 more than 100,000 Catholics from throughout the country gathered in Ha Nam Province outside Hanoi to open the Jubilee year and mark the church's formal 350-year hierarchal presence in the country. Cardinal Etchegaray, Vice-Dean of the College of Cardinals at the Holy See; Cardinal Vingt-Trois, president of the French Episcopal Conference; and Cardinal Bernard Francis Law from the Vatican joined Ho Chi Minh City Cardinal Pham Minh Man, 30 Vietnamese bishops from all 26 dioceses, and 1,200 priests from the northern section of the country at the celebration.
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