Sawt Falasteen - Papal envoy presides over first Vietnam beatification rite

Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle presided as papal envoy over a special mass in a church in Ca Mau for Father Francis Xavier Truong Buu Diep, a priest killed while protecting parishioners in 1946.

Diep became "blessed", the second of three steps towards sainthood.

Around 70,000 people were expected to attend, according to the Catholic Church in Vietnam, many arriving days early to watch the ceremony on big screens outside the church.

"We were sleeping on a mat outside the church last night," said Tran Le Tap, a 65-year-old saleswoman who travelled from the southern province of An Giang.

"It was a great honour for us to be here on this special occasion. We cannot miss it… It was honour for our Catholic followers and also for the Vietnamese. I feel so blessed."

The presence of Tagle, an envoy of Pope Leo XIV, highlights the warming ties between Communist Vietnam and the Vatican, which have not had official diplomatic relations since the end of the civil war in 1975.

The two sides made a breakthrough in 2023 by agreeing to a "Resident Papal Representative" for Vietnam.

Tagle called Thursday's ceremony a "moment of great joy for Vietnamese Catholics" and a "truly historic day in the life of the Church".

Le Mai, 33, came all the way from Hanoi with her mother for the event -- a day-long journey by plane and car.

"It was a long way to go, all the way from the north here, but it's a privilege for me and my mother to be able to attend this ceremony," she said.

Vietnam has more than 7.5 million Catholics, accounting for about 7.4 percent of the population, according to the Vatican's official news outlet.

Vietnam's constitution enshrines a right to religious freedom, but the government tightly regulates religious organisations.

Rights groups often criticise restrictions on religious practice such as registration requirements and surveillance.

Vietnam has had 117 people beatified and later canonised as saints, but the Church said this was the first time a beatification ceremony had been held in the country rather than at the Vatican.

Appointed priest of Vietnam's Tac Say parish in 1930, Diep was known for his devotion to the poor, sick, and those suffering because of war, according to the local Can Tho diocese.

He was murdered by two Japanese defectors, a diocesan investigation concluded in 2017.

M.AlAhmad--SF-PST