In the latest of the Church-state land dispute in Vietnam, a women’s Religious order has asked the government to stop construction of a park in a plot of land, which the nuns say is their land.

Sisters of Saint-Paul de Chartres have asked the chairman of the Vinh Long provincial People’s Committee, or local government, to return land saying it had been developed in 1871 as a nunnery and orphanage.

The demand came in a Dec. 6, letter which was posted on the website of the Vietnam Episcopal Council.

The latter appeared days before Vietnam’s President Nguyen Minh Triet and Pope Benedict Dec. 11. The meeting re-kindled hope for the Vatican and Vietnam establishing diplomatic ties.

Vietnam and the Vatican do not have diplomatic relations but in recent years have begun a reconciliation, although an outstanding issue remains the confiscation of Catholic land.

The nuns’ letter said in 1977, two years after communist authorities reunified Vietnam, the nuns of Saint-Paul de Chartres were arrested and in 2003 their church buildings were destroyed.

The letter signed by Sister Huynh Thi Bich Ngoc asked authorities to correct the 1977 “mistakes” and “return the legitimate property of the order of Saint-Paul.”

Source:  Vietnam nuns seek return of land (Cathnews India)

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