Roman Catholicism

By far the most widespread Christian church in Vietnam, Roman Catholicism first entered the country through Portuguese Catholic missionaries in the 16th century and strengthened its influence during French colonial rule. While the earliest missions were only mildly successful at gaining converts, later missions by Jesuit missionaries eventually saw the definitive establishment of Christian centres within the local population. 

Jesuit missionary Alexandre De Rhodes, who worked in Vietnam between 1624 and 1644, was perhaps the most notable missionary of this period. Among other achievements, he made a significant and lasting contribution to Vietnamese culture by developing an alphabet for the Vietnamese language in concert with Vietnamese scholars and based on the work of earlier Portuguese missionaries. The use of this alphabet, based on the Latin script with added diacritic marks, was originally intended to help reinforce teaching and evangelization efforts. It is still in use, and is now referred to as Quốc Ngữ (national language).

The French missionary priest Pigneau de Behaine played a key role in Vietnamese history towards the end of the 18th century by befriending Nguyễn Ánh, the most senior of the ruling Nguyễn lords to have escaped the rebellion of the Tây Sơn brothers in 1777. Becoming Nguyễn Ánh's loyal confidant, benefactor and military advisor during his time of need, he was able to gain a great deal of favor for the Church. During Nguyễn Ánh's subsequent rule as Emperor Gia Long, the Catholic faith was permitted unimpeded missionary activities out of his respect to his benefactors. By the time of the Emperor's accession in 1802, Vietnam had 3 Catholic dioceses with 320,000 members and over 120 Vietnamese priests.

According to the Catholic Hierarchy Catalog, there are currently 5,658,000 Catholics in Vietnam, representing 6.87% of the total population. There are 26 dioceses (including three archdioceses) with 2228 parishes and 2668 priests.

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