Vatican Secretary for Relations with States Archbishop Paul Gallagher (center) meets with Vietnamc’s Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son (unseen) and other officials at the Foreign Ministry in Hanoi on April 9, 2024. / Credit: NHAC NGUYEN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Rome Newsroom, Apr 11, 2024 / 09:40 am (CNA).
The Vatican’s foreign minister met with Vietnam’s prime minister in Hanoi on Wednesday during the first high-level diplomatic visit by a Church official to the country since the Vietnam War.
Archbishop Paul Gallagher, the Vatican secretary for relations with states, spoke with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh about the possibility of Pope Francis becoming the first pope to visit the Southeast Asian country.
The Vietnamese state-run news agency reported on April 10 that both Gallagher and the prime minister agreed “on the need to push ahead with high-level contacts, including Pope Francis’ visit to Vietnam.”
During his six-day trip to Vietnam, Gallagher will visit Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Hue. He will offer public Masses at the cathedrals in all three cities, according to the schedule released by the Vatican Secretariat of State.
Gallagher met with his counterpart, Vietnamese Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son, on his first day in the country on April 9. He is also scheduled to meet with seminarians in Hue and members of Vietnam’s bishops’ conference in Ho Chi Minh City before he leaves the country on April 14.
S.E. Mons. Paul R. Gallagher
