IOverview
Many Vietnamese Catholic families keep an ancestor altar, burn incense, offer flowers and hold death anniversaries. The Church permits and guides this on the basis of one key distinction: veneration of ancestors is filial devotion, while worship belongs to God alone.
This is not a branch that broke away from ancestor worship, nor a separate group within Catholicism. It is the way a major religious community in Vietnam has folded a shared Vietnamese custom into its own teaching. This page follows the documents, because the documents shaped the practice.
IIFrom the Rites Controversy to the Documents
In the 17th and 18th centuries, missionaries in China argued fiercely over whether converts could take part in rites honoring Confucius and the ancestors. The dispute is known as the Chinese Rites Controversy. The Holy See concluded at the time that these rites were acts of worship and forbade Catholics to join them. Pope Benedict XIV's constitution Ex quo singulari of 1742 settled the ban, and the Church in Vietnam was bound by the same rule.
Two centuries later Rome took another look. The instruction Plane compertum est, issued by the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith on 8 December 1939, held that gestures before spirit tablets and photographs of the dead had become civil expressions of filial respect and could be performed by Catholics.
- 1742Ex quo singulariPope Benedict XIV confirmed the ban on Catholics taking part in rites for Confucius and the ancestors.
- 1939Plane compertum estOn 8 December, Propaganda Fide permitted gestures of respect for the dead understood as civil in meaning.
- 1964Applied to VietnamOn 20 October, the Holy See approved applying the instruction in Vietnam.
- 1965Đà Lạt statementOn 14 June, the Bishops' Conference allowed photographs, flowers, lamps, bows and death anniversaries.
- 1974Nha Trang resolutionOn 14 November, further clarification on burning incense before the ancestor altar.
- 2019Guidance documentOn 4 October, the 14th plenary assembly of the Bishops' Conference in Hải Phòng approved it for a three-year trial. It was published on 29 October.
- 2025New guidanceOn 7 October, the Commissions for Culture and for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Bishops' Conference published the Guidance on Ancestor Veneration.
IIIVeneration and Worship
According to the documents of the Vietnamese Bishops' Conference, the word thờ in the phrase honoring one's grandparents carries the sense of remembering and caring, as in honoring one's father and mother. Worship in the sense of adoring a supreme being belongs to God alone. Ancestors are remembered with gratitude and prayed for. They are not treated as divinities to be petitioned for protection in God's place.
Two kinds of act follow from this. The first are gestures of filial respect: photographs, flowers, lamps, incense, bows, anniversary meals, visits to graves. The second are practices the documents class as superstition or worship, such as burning votive paper, summoning spirits, or gestures of submission to the dead as though to God. The first are encouraged and the second are not done.
The documents also offer criteria for discernment in unclear cases, such as love of God, love of neighbor, reality over idealism, and family unity over conflict.
That was the situation in East Asian mission territories before 1939, not today. Since the 1965 statement, Vietnamese Catholic families have been permitted to keep an ancestor altar, burn incense and hold death anniversaries. The remaining limits concern what the gestures mean, not whether there is an altar.
IVAltar, Anniversaries and Tết
At home the ancestor altar is usually placed below the altar to God. On it are photographs of the departed, flowers, lamps or candles, an incense bowl and fruit. On a death anniversary the family often asks for a Mass to be said for the deceased at church, then returns home to burn incense and share a meal.
The liturgical calendar of the Church in Vietnam sets aside the second day of the Lunar New Year to honor grandparents, ancestors and parents, with its own Mass. November is the month of prayer for the souls of the dead, and many parishes organize cemetery visits.
| Practice | Under the guidance |
|---|---|
| Ancestor altar at home | Permitted, placed below the altar to God. |
| Incense, lamps, flowers and fruit | Permitted as gestures of filial respect. |
| Bowing before photographs of the dead | Permitted. |
| Death anniversaries and grave visits | Permitted, often with a Mass offered for the deceased. |
| Burning votive paper | Not done. |
| Summoning spirits, petitioning the dead as divinities | Not done. |
VWho Gives the Guidance
Guidance comes from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Vietnam. The 2019 document was approved by its 14th plenary assembly and promulgated over the signature of Archbishop Joseph Nguyễn Chí Linh, then president of the conference. The 2025 text was published by the Commissions for Culture and for the Doctrine of the Faith. Dioceses pass it on to parishes, and parish priests answer questions from individual families.
The hardest cases involve families where some members are Catholic and others are not, especially at weddings and funerals. The guidance allows Catholics to attend family rites passively when needed, keeping their own faith in mind and keeping peace in the family.
VIToday
An ancestor altar in a Catholic home is now a familiar sight. The Pew Research survey published in 2024 found that 86 percent of Christians in Vietnam had burned incense and 81 percent had offered flowers or lit candles in honor of their ancestors in the past 12 months. The survey groups Catholics and Protestants together.
Within the Church these documents are seen as an effort at inculturation, bringing the faith into the shape of local culture. Understanding and application still vary between dioceses, generations and families.
VIISymbol of the Branch
No symbol of its own is recorded with a source for this branch, so the library uses the common symbol of the path.
VIIIOther Branches of Ancestor Veneration
Household Ancestor WorshipThờ cúng gia tiênThe most common level, performed at the home altar on the new and full moon, death anniversaries and festivals, by family members themselves.
Clan Ancestor WorshipTừ đường 祠堂, nhà thờ họWorship at clan level, with an ancestral hall, a genealogy book and a clan head who presides over rites.
Worship of the Hùng KingsTín ngưỡng thờ cúng Hùng VươngNational level worship of the Hung Kings as common ancestors, on the tenth day of the third lunar month at the Hung Temples.Catholic Veneration of AncestorsHướng dẫn việc tôn kính tổ tiênVietnamese Catholic families may keep an ancestor altar, burn incense and hold death anniversaries, as guided by the Bishops' Conference, most recently in 2019.Uses the common symbol of the pathAncestor Altars in the Southern Vietnamese Religions九玄七祖 Cửu Huyền Thất TổSouthern Vietnamese religions keep an ancestor altar in the home.Uses the common symbol of the pathWorship of Village FoundersTiền hiền, hậu hiền, khai canh 開耕, khai khẩn 開墾Village-level worship of the founding settlers as common ancestors of the community, usually in the communal house.Uses the common symbol of the pathIXSources
The library cross-checks the sources below. Where they disagree, the page gives both.
- Hội đồng Giám mục Việt Nam, Công bố văn kiện hướng dẫn việc tôn kính tổ tiên (2019)
- Hội đồng Giám mục Việt Nam, Hướng dẫn việc tôn kính tổ tiên (2025)
- Tổng Giáo phận Sài Gòn, Hướng dẫn việc Tôn kính Tổ tiên
- Công giáo và Dân tộc, Văn kiện Hướng dẫn việc tôn kính tổ tiên một nỗ lực hội nhập văn hóa
- Pew Research Center 2024, Ancestor veneration, funerals and afterlife beliefs
- Britannica, Chinese Rites Controversy
?Quick Questions
Can Catholics burn incense for their ancestors?
Yes. The Bishops' Conference resolution of 14 November 1974 in Nha Trang addressed incense explicitly, and the documents of 2019 and 2025 continue to permit it. Incense is understood as a gesture of filial respect, not of worship.
Where does the ancestor altar go in a Catholic home?
Usually below the altar to God, with photographs of the departed, flowers, lamps, an incense bowl and fruit. The order of higher and lower expresses the distinction between worship owed to God and veneration shown to ancestors.
Why did the Catholic Church once forbid ancestor rites?
During the Chinese Rites Controversy of the 17th and 18th centuries, the Holy See judged these rites to be acts of worship. In 1939 the instruction Plane compertum est reconsidered and held that they had become civil in meaning, so they were permitted. Vietnam applied this from 1964 and 1965.
Do Vietnamese Catholics have a day set aside for ancestors?
Yes. The second day of the Lunar New Year has a Mass in honor of grandparents, ancestors and parents. November is also the month of prayer for the dead, and family death anniversaries are often marked with a Mass.