Vatican's top diplomat begins 6-day visit to Vietnam

The Vatican's top diplomat began a six-day visit to Vietnam on Tuesday as part of ongoing efforts to normalize relations between the two sides.

Richard Gallagher, the Holy See's foreign minister, will meet with his Vietnamese counterpart Bui Thanh Son and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, and visit a children's hospital in the capital, Hanoi, state media Vietnam News Agency reported.

Gallagher will also hold Mass in Hanoi, in Hue in central Vietnam and in the financial hub of Ho Chi Minh City in the south.

Last December, Archbishop Marek Zalewski became the first Vatican representative to live in the Southeast Asian country and open an office there.

Vietnam described that appointment as a "historic moment," underscoring a stronger relationship that could have implications in the future for the Holy See's ties with China. The Vatican's relationship with Vietnam has long been seen as a model for its relations with China. Beijing severed diplomatic ties with the Vatican in 1951 after the communists rose to power and expelled foreign priests.

Vietnam and the Vatican still don't have full diplomatic relations. Their ties were severed in 1975 after the Communist Party established its rule over the entire country following the end of the Vietnam War. Relations have been strained ever since, although the two sides have had regular talks since at least the late 1990s.

Catholicism is officially the most practiced religion in Vietnam, with 5.9 million or 44.6% of the 13.2 million people who identified as religious in a 2019 census saying they were Catholic. That works out to more than 6% of the country's population.

Diplomats have speculated that Pope Francis could visit the country, but no official announcements have been made by the Vatican or Vietnam.