The Vietnam Province of the Society of Jesus is located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
For much of Vietnamese history, Mahayana Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism have strongly influenced the religious and cultural life of the people. About 85% of Vietnamese identify with Buddhism even though they do not practice on a regular basis. About 8% of the population are Christians (about 6 million Roman Catholics and less than 1 million Protestants. Christianity was introduced first by the Portuguese and the Dutch traders in the 16th and 17th centuries, then further propagated under the French colonists in the 19th and 20th centuries, and to a lesser extent, by American Protestant missionaries during the presence of American forces during the 1960s and early 70's.
Vietnam has traditionally had great reservation toward Roman Catholicism. This mistrust originated during the French colonial time when some Catholics collaborated with the French colonists as espionage agents and militiamen to suppress the Vietnamese independence movement. Furthermore, the Church's teaching regarding communism made it an unwelcome counterforce to communist rule. Relationship with the Vatican, however, has improved in recent years.
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