Pope Francis received in audience the Superiors and Delegates of the Discalced Carmelites Photo: Vatican Media

The Holy See and Vietnam at a turning point that comes from afar

Archbishop Gallagher’s meetings in Hanoi brought to the fore the unique relationship between Vietnam’s Catholicism and the country’s rulers, a topic revisited a few weeks ago in Paris in an interesting conference by Prof Claire Tran at the headquarters of the MÉP. It all started with the “instructions” given by Pope Alexander VII in 1659 to the first apostolic vicar Pierre Lambert de la Motte.