Even in the most cynical of times, "wicked" and "traitor" are rarely words that come to mind when describing a priest. But then, Father Nguyen Van Ly is no ordinary priest. The 53-year-old Catholic cleric has already spent nine years in prison, and last week he was in trouble again. Vietnamese authorities detained him in the central town of Hue and jailed two of his assistants. State-run newspapers obediently denounced him; one daily ran a photo of the priest holding a crucifix, under the headline: people's traitor unmasked.
In most countries, such vitriol would signal the ugliest of scandals, perhaps involving choirboys....
