Phanxicô Xaviê Nguyễn Văn Thuận or Francis-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận (; 17 April 1928 – 16 September 2002), was a Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church. He was a nephew of South Vietnam's first president, Ngô Đình Diệm, and of Archbishop

Ngô Đình Thục Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục () (6 October 1897 – 13 December 1984) was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Huế, Vietnam, and later a sedevacantist bishop who was excommunicated by the Vatican and allegedly reconciled with the Vatican b ...

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

named him as

Venerable The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism. Christianity Cat ...

on 4 May 2017, a significant step on the road towards canonization.

Early life

Thuận was born in

Huế Huế () is the capital of Thừa Thiên Huế province in central Vietnam and was the capital of Đàng Trong from 1738 to 1775 and of Vietnam during the Nguyễn dynasty from 1802 to 1945. The city served as the old Imperial City and admi ...

in 1928, the son of Nguyễn Văn Ấm and Elizabeth Ngô Đình Thị Hiệp, daughter of

Ngô Đình Khả Ngô Đình Khả (吳廷可, 1856–1923 but some sources state 1850–1925) was a high-ranking Catholic mandarin in the Court of the Emperor Thành Thái in Huế, Vietnam. He helped established the Quoc Hoc in Hue and was also a confidant ...

. He joined the seminary at An Ninh as a teenager, and was ordained a priest on 11 June 1953, by Monsignor

Jean-Baptiste Urrutia Jean-Baptiste Urrutia (born 6 November 1901, Les Aduldes, Basses-Pyrénées, France – died 15 January 1979, Montbeton, France) was a French Roman Catholic missionary from the Paris Foreign Missions Society. He was an attendee at the Second V ...

. After three years of further studies in Rome, he was appointed in 1959–1967 as a faculty member and rector of the Seminary of Hoan Thiện, Huế.

Episcopal career

He was appointed Bishop of

Nha Trang Nha Trang ( or ; ) is a coastal city and capital of Khánh Hòa Province, on the South Central Coast of Vietnam. It is bounded on the north by Ninh Hoà town, on the south by Cam Ranh city and on the west by Diên Khánh District. The city ha ...

on 13 April 1967 and received episcopal consecration on 4 June 1967 at

from Angelo Palmas, Apostolic Delegate to Viêt Nam (and later Nuncio to Colombia and to Canada), assisted by Bishops Philippe Nguyễn Kim Dien, Apostolic Administrator, ''sede plena'', of Huế, and Jean-Baptiste Urrutia, titular archbishop of Carpato. On 24 April 1975, he was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Saigon. Six days later, Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese Army, and Thuận, targeted for his faith as well as his family connections to Ngô Đình Diệm, was detained by the communist government of Vietnam in a re-education camp for 13 years, nine in solitary confinement. In prison, he smuggled out messages to his people on scraps of paper. The brief reflections, copied by hand and circulated within the Vietnamese community, have been printed in the book, ''The Road of Hope''. Through a network of influential Overseas Vietnamese, including dignitaries, like his former classmate Monsignor Trần Văn Hoài, ''The Road of Hope'' was distributed worldwide. Another book, ''Prayers of Hope'', contains his prayers written in prison. The bishop fashioned a tiny Bible out of scraps of paper. Sympathetic guards smuggled in a piece of wood and some wire from which he crafted a small crucifix.

In exile

On 21 November 1988, Thuận was released by the communist government but kept under house arrest in the archbishop's house in

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

, impeded from returning to his see,

Hồ Chí Minh City , population_density_km2 = 4,292 , population_density_metro_km2 = 697.2 , population_demonym = Saigonese , blank_name = GRP (Nominal) , blank_info = 2019 , blank1_name = – Total , blank1_ ...

. He was allowed to visit Rome in 1991 but not to return. The following year, he was given a post at the International Catholic Commission for Migration in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

, Switzerland. On 24 November 1994, he was appointed President of the

Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (''Justitia et Pax'') was a pontifical council of the Roman Curia dedicated to "action-oriented studies" for the international promotion of justice, peace, and human rights from the perspective of the ...

, and at the same time resigned from his post of Coadjutor Archbishop of Sai Gon. As President of the Pontifical Council, he handled issues such as

Third World The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...

debt. In 1995, he was appointed Postulator of the Cause of Beatification of Brother Nguyễn Tan Văn, also known as Marcel Van. On 21 February 2001, Thuận was created a

Cardinal Deacon A cardinal ( la, Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae cardinalis, literally 'cardinal of the Holy Roman Church') is a senior member of the clergy of the Catholic Church. Cardinals are created by the ruling pope and typically hold the title for life. Co ...

of ''

Santa Maria della Scala Santa Maria della Scala (English: Mary of the Staircase) is a titular church in Rome, Italy, located in the Trastevere rione. Cardinal Ernest Simoni took possession of the titular church on 11 February 2017. Santa Maria della Scala is a titular ...

''. He died of cancer in a clinic in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Italy, on 16 September 2002, at the age of 74.

Legacy

On 16 September 2007, the fifth anniversary of the cardinal's death, the Roman Catholic Church began the

beatification Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

process for Thuận.

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

expressed "profound joy" at news of the official opening of the beatification cause. Roman Catholics in Vietnam also positively received the news on beatification process opening for the cardinal. In the words of a catechist from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hồ Chí Minh City, "Nguyễn Văn Thuận is an example of holiness for Vietnamese Catholics and for the entire world." In his 2007 encyclical, '' Spe Salvi'', Benedict XVI referred to Thuận's ''Prayers of Hope'', saying:

During thirteen years in jail, in a situation of seemingly utter hopelessness, the fact that he could listen and speak to God became for him an increasing power of hope, which enabled him, after his release, to become for people all over the world a witness to hope—to that great hope which does not wane even in the nights of solitude.

Dr. Waldery Hilgeman is Postulator of the Cause for Thuận's canonization.

Writings

* François-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận. ''Five Loaves & Two Fish'' 1969 * François-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận. ''The Road of Hope: A Gospel from Prison'' 2001 * François-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận. ''Prayers of Hope, Words of Courage'' 2002 * François-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận. ''Prières d'espérance'' 1995 * François-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận. ''J'ai suivi Jésus: un évêque témoigne'' 1997

Quotes

* Recorded on the Feast of the Holy Rosary, 7 October 1976, in Phú Khánh prison, during his solitary confinement: ''"I am happy here, in this cell, where white mushrooms are growing on my sleeping mat, because You are here with me, because You want me to live here with You. I have spoken much in my lifetime: now I speak no more. It's Your turn to speak to me, Jesus; I am listening to You".''

References

External links

Cardinal Nguyễn Văn Thuận website

Nguyễn Văn Thuận Foundation website

My captors, my friends: Cardinal Nguyễn Văn Thuận
''Catholic Weekly'', 18 March 2001 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nguyen, Van Thuan 1928 births 2002 deaths 21st-century venerated Christians History of Catholicism in Vietnam Ngo family Deaths from cancer in Lazio Vietnamese people of the Vietnam War People from Huế Vietnamese Servants of God 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Vietnam Vietnamese cardinals Vietnamese dissidents Vietnamese exiles Vietnamese refugees Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II Venerated Catholics by Pope Francis