Vatican City - Vietnam and The Vatican are moving toward establishing diplomatic relations and Vietnamese Catholics are hoping for a visit by Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican said Monday.
In an upbeat report, The Vatican said a newly returned delegation, during a weeklong visit, discussed such issues as the nomination of bishops and emphasized that any problems can be overcome through "mutual consensus" and "patient and constructive dialogue."
It is unusual for the Vatican to speculate about a papal visit, particularly to a communist country which has had strained relations with its influential Catholic community over the years.
But the meeting at the Vatican in January between Benedict and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung appears to have improved the climate.
The statement said the Vietnamese government gave assurances that officials are already at work on normalizing relations and that both sides examined concrete ways to get the process of establishing diplomatic ties moving. Officials in Hanoi had earlier reported that the two sides had proposed the formation of a working group on bilateral relations.
The Vatican counts some 6 million Catholics in Vietnam, one of the largest communities in Asia.
The Vatican said its delegation had celebrated Mass in several dioceses, including in Hai Phong, near China, and visited schools and other Catholic institutions.
It said Catholics showed "deep affection" and "fidelity" toward Benedict "in the hope that the pope himself may one day make a pastoral visit to the country."
Since assuming the papacy nearly two years ago, Benedict has been reaching out to Catholics in Vietnam and China.
While there are concrete signs of progress with the Vietnamese, the going has been tougher with China. The Vatican has been angered by the unilateral nomination of bishops by a government-backed Catholic Church.
There has also been talk of a possible papal visit to China, but much depends on efforts to normalize relations between Beijing and the Vatican.