Catholic Censorship Stepped Up in Vietnam

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
7 Aug 2009

Catholic sites which help to uncover the persecution against Catholics in Vietnam have become the latest casualties of the government's severe censorship.

VietCatholic News has long been on top of the list for being blocked from domestic viewers, but there are now recent reports that the leading sites of Catholics around the world including Asia-News, Catholics Online, Catholic News Agency, Catholic World News and Independent Catholic News have all become the latest victims of Vietnam's censorship policy.

Vietnam strictly regulates Internet access to its citizens, using both legal and technical means.

While the government of Vietnam claims to safeguard the country against obscene or sexually explicit content to justify its blocking efforts, in reality most of its filtered sites contain politically or religiously sensitive materials that have been observed as undermining the Communist Party's hold on power while porn sites can be accessed unrestrictedly.

Some Catholic sites have recently published reports on ruthless persecutions of Catholics throughout the country including surprising attacks on unarmed parishioners. Many of these people are now missing.

Priests have also been badly beaten and left in critical condition.

These reports and others have been censored.