The Pope's death was a pretty big deal here. Vietnamese people told me there are ten million Catholics in Vietnam. Reuters news service says eight million. That's ten percent of the population. Vietnam's Catholic population the the second largest in Asia. But the Pope never made it here. Vietnam is changing fast -- opening up -- but religion is still sensitive. Vietnam's Catholics are under strict control and there is little discussion in the press. I couldn't find any news articles that interviewed any Vietnamese Catholics on their feelings about the Pope.
I wandered into Hanoi's St Joseph's Cathedral the day after the Pope died (Monday April 4), and found workers putting together a sign for that evening's special mourning service. Outside, they were hoisting up the portrait of young Pope John Paul II. One of the workers told me there would be a ceremony that night, and they were expecting about 4000 people.
So I returned later in the evening and found people pouring in, wrapping their heads in the traditional Vietnamese white mourning headcloths.
Thousand of people packed the cathedral. They sat on pews. and plastic stools inside and outside the main entrance.
I didn't understand a word of what was said during the service -- it was conducted in Vietnamese -- but the singing was beautiful. The congregation often broke out into amazing harmonies. I uploaded a couple files so you can hear:
Download hanoi_pope_mass_1.mp3
Download hanoi_pope_mass_2.mp3
The view from outside.
Hi Jess,
This is really interesting.. and it was weird to download the singing..Maybe the next Pope will be Vietnamese.xx Mom
Posted by: Elaine | April 04, 2005 at 07:52 PM