Path to Sainthood for Vietnamese Cardinal Who Called Australia His Second Homeland

Catholic Communications, Sydney Archdiocese,
26 Oct 2010

Vietnamese Cardinal Francois Xavier Nguyen van Thuan, whose sister and parents escaped the communist regime to live in Australia, is on the path to canonisation.

Cardinal van Thuan, who was beatified in 2007, five years after his death, called Australia his "second homeland" when he visited his family here.

The diocesan phase of his canonisation phase began this week which involves gathering documentation of his life, writings, virtues and sanctity.

While growing up, Cardinal  van Thuan and numerous members of his family suffered martyrdom because of their faith. However he joined the seminary and after his ordination studied in Rome.

He first visited Australia in 1963 after meeting many Australian priests in Rome.

Appointed Bishop of Nha Trang in 1967, seven years later Pope Paul V1 appointed him archbishop coadjutor of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh). He was arrested the same year during a crackdown on the Catholic Church for both his faith and family connections (he was the nephew of President Diem who was assassinated in 1963) spending the next 13 years in prison, nine of which were in isolation.

He managed however to celebrate mass each day with three drops of wine - he said he needed it as medicine for a stomach complaint -  a drop of water and a few grains of bread.

The cardinal also befriended many of the guards, speaking to them of Christianity and the hope he always carried. His guards were changed every fortnight but he converted many of them and a friendship grew between  the cardinal and his guards who would smuggle in bits of paper on which he could write. This is how he wrote his book, The Road to Hope, a little book of reflections on hope that kept his mind active and helped preserve his sanity.

His guards also smuggled him a small piece of timber so he could make a cross which he kept hidden in a piece of soap. They also brought him some wire from which he made a chain which bore his pectoral cross, the insignia of his new office when he was finally released.

During this time his sister and parents escaped to Australia but they never stopped campaigning for his release. They were aided by the Australian bishops, Amnesty International, the International Society for Human Rights and the Vietnamese community in Australia.

After the 13 years in the communist re-education camp ,Cardinal Thuan was finally released however he was forced into exile. Pope John Paul 11 welcomed him to Vatican City and entrusted him with responsibilities in the Roman Curia.

The cardinal remained the Archbishop of Saigon but stayed in Rome, appointed vice president of the Pontifical Council for Social Justice and Peace, of which he became president in 1998.

He spent the ensuing years travelling the world promoting peace and justice and was made a cardinal in 2001.

Soon after, on 16 September 2002, Cardinal Thuan died of cancer aged 74. He is buried in the chapel of the canons of the chapter of St Peter's Basilica, Campo Verano cemetery, Rome however at a later date his body will be buried in the church of Santa Maria della Scala, his diaconate.

There are approximately seven million Catholics in Vietnam or eight percent of the population. Many are allowed to practice their religion although religious groups are still strictly controlled by the state and many continue to be harassed for their beliefs .The state also does not approve of Catholic schools or hospitals.

In 2007 Pope Benedict XV1 said a cause had been opened for Cardinal Thuan's beatification, with the usual 5-year time lapse having passed.

Pope Benedict XV1 spoke of the cardinal's "fervent commitment to spreading the Church's social doctrine among the world's poor, his longing for evangelisation in his own continent of Asia, and his skill in co-ordinating activities of charity and human promotion which he initiated and supported in most of the out-of-the-way places on earth." The late cardinal, he said, was a man of hope, he lived on hope and he spread it to everyone he met.