Vietnam to return nunciature

HANOI, Vietnam -- After round-the-clock prayer vigils and protests on the grounds of the former apostolic nunciature in Hanoi (NCR, Feb. 8), Vietnamese authorities have decided to return the building to the Catholic church.

City officials said the government would return the former nunciature, which the communist government confiscated in 1959, after the Vietnamese lunar new year celebrations ended Feb. 9.

Government officials informed the Hanoi archdiocese of the building's return at a Jan. 31 meeting, but Catholics continued occupying the property.

Church sources told the Rome-based missionary news service AsiaNews that civil authorities decided to let the church have the building "to show goodwill and respect toward the pope."

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