Leo XIV received the Vice President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Vo Thi Anh Xuan, on June 30, 2025, at the Vatican. This visit by the leader at the beginning of the pontificate demonstrates that dialogue between the Holy See and the Southeast Asian country is continuing. However, the two states do not yet have official diplomatic relations.
The meeting is the latest step in a process of rapprochement over recent years, including the appointment of a resident pontifical representative in Vietnam.
The Holy See has not provided any information about the closed-door meeting between the vice president and the Pope. During her morning at the Vatican, Vo Thi Anh Xuan also met with Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Secretary for Relations with States. This key figure of Vatican diplomacy visited Vietnam in April 2024 and was received by the Prime Minister, among others.
The conversations at the Secretariat of State were an opportunity to express “warm appreciation (...) for the positive developments in relations between the Holy See and Vietnam,” according to the Holy See's press release issued after the meeting. The note cites “the implementation of the Agreement on the Status of the Resident Pontifical Representative in Vietnam.”
Steps towards closer relations
The first “resident papal representative” in Vietnam was appointed on December 23, 2023, in the person of Archbishop Marek Zalewski. The announcement of this representative had been made a few months earlier, on July 27, during a visit to the Vatican by the then President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Vo Van Thuong.
The opening of an office for the Holy See's representative in Vietnam was hailed as a step forward in bilateral relations. However, the joint communiqué did not mention an “apostolic nuncio” and did not announce the establishment of formal diplomatic relations, which were severed in 1975.
The Holy See officially maintains diplomatic relations with 183 out of the 195 countries that exist to date.
On Monday, the parties emphasized “the contribution of the Catholic Church to Vietnamese society,” according to the Holy See. The vice president (who has been in office since 2021) and the secretary for state relations also discussed “the socio-political situation in the country and regional and international developments.”
Catholics represent about 7% of the Vietnamese population (approximately 100 million inhabitants).
Announcing his visit to Vietnam in January 2024, Archbishop Gallagher highlighted the country's “renewal,” particularly in its relations with the international community and with the Catholic Church. “We also hope to encourage them towards greater religious freedom,” he added, noting that this freedom, which is enshrined in the Constitution, was “still a work in progress.”
An eventual papal visit?
Vietnam is one of the few countries in the world that has never been visited by a pope. On his return flight from Mongolia in September 2023, Pope Francis said that there would “surely” be an apostolic journey to Vietnam in the coming years, while suggesting that it could be made by “John XXIV” – the name he jokingly used for his successor.
In a letter reported by AsiaNews in December 2023, President Vo Van Thuong — since replaced by Luong Cuong — officially invited Pope Francis to visit his country.
