HANOI, Nov. 4 (Reuters) - Communist Vietnam on Wednesday said Catholic bishops in the country had not asked the government to issue a formal invitation to the Pope.

The Vatican news agency Fides said last week Vietnam's Catholic bishops wanted Pope John Paul to visit next August to conclude celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of an apparition of the Virgin Mary at La Vang.

"No functional agency of Vietnam has received such a request from the Vietnam Episcopal Council as reported by Fides," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh said at a briefing for foreign journalists.

"As you know, at a recent meeting on October 16 between Prime Minister Phan Van Khai and the bishops of 25 parishes in Vietnam, no one raised such a request," Thanh said without elaborating.

A senior member of Vietnam's Catholic clergy told Reuters a request concerning the Pope had been presented to the government.

"I was told the Vietnam Bishops' Council had sent a letter to the government related to an invitation for the Pope to visit Vietnam for the La Vang festival," he said. La Vang lies in central Vietnam.

Fides said the bishops' decision to invite the Polish-born Pontiff was taken unanimously by the Vietnam Episcopal Council, which had held an annual conference from October 11-18.

Vietnam's Roman Catholic community numbers around eight million and is Southeast Asia's largest outside the Philippines.

While the atmosphere for worship in Vietnam has eased in recent years, the state retains strict controls over religious groups and related activities.

Abdelfattah Amor, the U.N. Special Rapporteur for Religious Intolerance, said a landmark visit to Vietnam that concluded last week was difficult and he bemoaned restrictions placed on his access to people and places.

Vietnam on Wednesday chided Amor over his criticism.