Those who agreed were forced to take part in traditional religious practices such as drinking the blood of sacrificed animals, Rhodes said. Leaders who refuse to recant are jailed. Catholics also suffer. Vietnam has Asia's second largest Catholic population with seven to eight million adherents, Rhodes said, but government restrictions have created a shortage of priests. There are only six seminaries and the government approves applicants as well as graduates before they can be ordained, he said.
Authorities also approve a priest's parish assignment.
A diocese near Hanoi has one priest for 24 congregations and 16,000 parishioners, Rhodes said, and a single priest in another diocese serves 47 congregations, including seven cathedral-sized churches. Bishops are ordaining priests without the government's approval, he said. The church is training lay leaders to assist. At least 24 Catholic and Protestant ministers are in jail, Rhodes said. There probably are many more, but verification is difficult, especially with tribal Christians.