Evolution of Catholicism in Vietnam after the second Vatican Council

Abstract

After the Vatican Council II, there was a series of upgrades and reforms of the Universal Church and the Catholic Church of Vietnam. The Church, recognizing the unique value of Vietnamese culture, headed for inculturation; that is the incarnation of the Gospel in the national culture. It also established new relations with non-Christian religions, switching to a model of strengthening ties with Vietnamese society. However, due to ideological differences with the social doctrine of the Church and the other, Catholicism did not become the dominant religion in any country in Asia, despite all the efforts of its followers. The experience of the spread of Catholicism in Vietnam shows that the “unrelated” culture (i.e., one that was formed on other grounds), may well exist only in the case when it adjusts to the parent culture. Otherwise, the introduction of foreign culture is associated with the risk of rejection should the transplanted culture does not adapt to a new social organism. Refs 5.