Hue, Apr. 15, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Vietnamese authorities have announced plans to restore Catholic ownership of a plot of land around the nation's most beloved Marian shrine.

In a surprise announcement, the local government of Quang Tri province said that it would return nearly all of the land surrounding the basilica of Our Lady of La Vang, which had been seized after the Communist takeover of 1975.

During a meeting with Archbishop Stephen Nguyen Nhu The of Hue and his coadjutor, Bishop Francis Le Van Hong, government officials said that they would return over 50 acres of land around the shrine. The government is retaining control over a small section of the land-- about 6 acres-- but said that the Church would be able to make use of that land as well for some activities.

The government concession was greeted by Catholics with pleasure but with some skepticism. Earlier this year-- on February 1-- government officials in Hanoi announced that they would restore Catholic ownership of the building that once housed the offices of the apostolic nuncio there. To date that promise remains unfulfilled.

The government could have a practical motive to restore land to the La Vang shrine, however: to encourage tourism. The Marian shrine there, built on the site of an apparition by the Virgin Mary in 1798, draws tens of thousands of pilgrims every year.