Joseph Vũ Văn Thiên (born 26 October 1960) is a Vietnamese prelate of the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
. A bishop since 2002, he was appointed
Metropolitan Archbishop of Hanoi on 17 November 2018.
Biography
Thiên was born in
Ke Sat in
Hải Dương Province
Hải Dương was a former province in the Red River Delta of northern Vietnam. Its name derives from Sino-Vietnamese "ocean sun", though the modern province is in fact landlocked. Located in the Northern Key Economic Region, Hai Duong Provin ...
on 26 October 1960.
[ He has four siblings.][ He entered the Major Seminary of Saint Joseph in Hanoi in 1982 and completed his work in philosophy and theology there. He was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Hải Phòng on 24 January 1988.][
He was bishop's secretary from 1988 to 1994 and held parish assignments from 1988 to 1996. From 1996 to 2000 he studied at the ]Institut Catholique de Paris
The Institut catholique de Paris (, abbr. ICP), known in English as the Catholic University of Paris (and in Latin as ''Universitas catholica Parisiensis''), is a private university located in Paris, France.
History: 1875–present
The Institut ...
, earning his licentiate in theology.[
He was Professor of Theology at the Major Seminary in Hanoi from 2000 to 2002.][
]Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005.
In his you ...
named him Bishop of Hai Phòng on 26 November 2002[ In November 2017, Thien presided at a ceremony initiating construction of a church to replace a historic shrine dedicated to local martyrs that was destroyed in a U.S. air raid in 1967.
On 17 November 2018, ]Pope Francis
Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...
named him to succeed Cardinal Pierre Nguyên Văn Nhon as Archbishop of Hà Nội.
See also
*Catholic Church in Vietnam
The Catholic Church in Vietnam () is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership Pope in Holy See, Rome. Vietnam has the fifth largest Catholic population in Asia, after the Philippines, India, People's Republic of China ...
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vũ, Joseph, Văn Thiên
1960 births
Living people
People from Hải Dương province
Institut Catholique de Paris alumni
21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Vietnam
Vietnamese Roman Catholic archbishops
Vietnamese Roman Catholic bishops