The Vietnamese head of the Redemptorist order has been stopped from leaving the country, in the latest of a series of clashes between the religious order and the Communist regime.

Father Vincent Pham Trung was stopped by police as he tried to board a flight to Singapore, where he was to attend a regional meeting of Redemptorist superiors. He has been the focal point in several disputes between government officials and priests who are protesting the regime's seizure of properties belonging to the Church.