Repeating suggestions of Catholic bishops in Vietnam, a Cardinal attribute spreading civil unrest in the country to the government's denial of the right to own private property.

“Vietnam law has since 1975 denied the right to own private property. I don't really know what was the intention of those who drafted that law, whether to build a better and more just society or else? But in reality, it has opened up for so much abuses, injustice, and spreading civil unrest,” Cardinal Jean Baptiste Pham Minh Man of Saigon Archdiocese told La Croix in an interview on Jan. 24.

Catholic bishops in the country, including himself, have repeatedly urged the government to revise its land laws. Specifically, in the statement titled “Viewpoint of the Vietnam Conference of Catholic Bishops toward current issues,” published on Sep. 25, 2008, the bishops recommended a revision of the system of land laws “taking the right to own private property into consideration as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: ‘Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.’ and ‘No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property"

The result? "As of now, we have yet to see any concrete result, and the main reason may be due to the lack of unanimity within the governmental structure," Cardinal Pham lamented.

The arbitrary deprivation of Church properties by local authorities has caused protests and tense Church-State relation. In seeking solution to resolve the conflicts, Vietnam government opts to do it through violence, and oppression. This “goes against cultural traditions and moral values of the nation,” the Cardinal insisted, explaining that “The culture and moral values we have for ages built on the brotherhood of fellow countrymen, the mutual respect and assistance; not on the system of power and violence being used to exclude their very fellow countrymen ".

Cardinal Jean Baptiste Pham also took the opportunity to the defend Redemptorists in his archdiocese and Fr. John Le Trong Cung, Vice-Chancellor of Hanoi Archdiocese. State media and the state-controlled “Vietnam Committee for Catholic Solidarity” have described them as “the instigators of riots", calling for severe punishments.

“The government considers them rebels,” he said, “while they themselves believe they are free citizens with social responsibilities to fight for human rights and to contribute to the construction of a just, democratic, and more civilized society.”

Authorities have attacked Redemptorists at the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Saigon for their criticism against governmental bauxite projects and their support for their brothers in Hanoi who have been fighting to regain their land, unfairly seized by the city. While Fr. John Le Trong Cung, Vice-Chancellor of Hanoi Archdiocese, has been attacked for his statements regarding the demolition of a crucifix at Dong Chiem.

The Cardinal did not hesitate to address another sensitive issue: the distortion of an idea of Pope Benedict XVI that “a good Catholic is also a good citizen” which he said in a speech to Vietnamese bishops during the Ad Limina visit on June 27, 2009.

A good citizen, interpreted by the state propaganda system, is one who loves the regime, its ideology, never criticizes it but blindly follows its instructions. To set the record straight, the Cardinal praised said priests as “good example for families and social organizations” for their “resolute fight against the power abuse and the violence of the government” urging the re-construction of the system of education to build more humane generations in which moral values are exhorted.

He also lamented on the distortion and tailoring information by mass media that Catholic bishops in Vietnam have repeatedly complained.