With a new law mandating that bishops no longer have to get permission from the communist government for many church activities, the 5 million-plus Catholics in Vietnam are enjoying "much more" freedom than they have since the fall of Saigon three decades ago, according to Cardinal Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man.

And the gregarious archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) told The Tidings last week that he is cautiously optimistic that Hanoi and the Vatican might soon establish a diplomatic "relationship."

But Cardinal Man, who is the first prelate recognized by the Vietnamese government since 1994, reported that Hanoi still tried to restrict and control the actions of local church authorities. Sometimes it was just waiting to the last moment to approve an ordination or it might be a dragged-out, year-long application to build a new mission church.

"The right of freedom we have in the constitution," the 72-year-old prelate, who is visiting Vietnamese communities throughout the United States and Canada, said after touring San Gabriel Valley Medical Center July 28. "But, in reality, in daily life, Catholics still have to ask for permission. Restrictions and control. They want to have control over everything --- even your mind."

Cardinal Man reported that economically and materially Vietnam had improved "very much, very much" since the 1970s and '80s. He said there were new roads, buildings and factories, plus more jobs. "But at the same time, we have our own kinds of social evils, too," he added.

The population of Ho Chi Minh City had swelled to six million residents, along with two million migrants from the countryside looking for work. When these mostly men weren't successful, they often became desperate.

"Then a kind of black society gets them involved in trafficking --- traffic of drugs, traffic of women, traffic of children," he said. "Organized prostitution is everywhere, and from there you have an HIV epidemic and many AIDS patients."

Last year Cardinal Man was asked by government officials to involve the Catholic community in preventing the spread of AIDS. He spearheaded an effort that resulted in one congregation of religious working in a government health center and more than 20 groups of outreach lay people, who take care of AIDS patients on the streets of Ho Chi Minh City as well as in their own homes.

Other infectious diseases such as TB, malaria and, most recently, Asian Bird Flu are also major health problems because of overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, according to the cardinal. He said the city has barely 30,000 hospital beds, but actually needed 200,000. "There is a very, very great need," he stressed.

Which is why Cardinal Man was at the San Gabriel Valley Medical Center for the third time, meeting with hospital administrators and physicians. He said the Vietnamese government won't allow the Catholic Church to build new hospitals. But he had privately garnered the support of Catholic Vietnamese businessmen and doctors who wanted to start a medical center. And he was in San Gabriel to not only gain some nuts-and-bolts knowledge about operating a healthcare facility, but also to "build a bridge of communion between two peoples."

On his two-nation tour of Portland, Los Angeles, Houston, Ohio, Toronto, Ottawa and other cities with large Vietnamese communities, the cardinal, who received his red hat in 2003 from Pope John Paul II, also wanted to thank local bishops for accepting Vietnamese people into their dioceses and for giving them compassionate pastoral care.

"They still have a strong faith, and they pass on that faith to their children," he said. "So I am very happy about it."

But Cardinal Man also wanted to meet with former Vietnamese refugees who now were U.S. citizens, contributing not only to their new nation but also to their new parishes.

"So I remind them about their duty, their mission of building the local church over here," he said. "I am a messenger of good news, as a witness of faith, of love, of God for all people."