8% of the population is Catholic. Christianity made its appearance in Vietnam in the 16th century with the arrival of the Portuguese Dominican missionaries. It was mainly in the 17th century that the country had been evangelized  by Jesuits and Father Alexander of Rhodes. He was the one who romanized the Vietnamese language, which became Quoc Ngu, modern Vietnamese writing.

In the 19th century, the French, under Napoleon III, used the persecution of Catholics by the Vietnamese Kings as a pretext to colonize Indochina. In 1954, at the end of the French-Vietnamese war, most Catholics fled to the south. To this day, the number of Catholics remains higher there, however churches can be found throughout the territory. Their masses and prayers are told in Vietnamese language while songs and music are inspired by traditional arts.