His Eminence François-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận Venerable |
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President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace | |
See | Vadesi |
Appointed | 24 June 1998 |
Term ended | 16 September 2002 |
Predecessor | Roger Marie Élie Etchegaray |
Successor | Renato Raffaele Martino |
Other posts | Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria della Scala |
Orders | |
Ordination | 11 June 1953 by Jean-Baptiste Urrutia |
Consecration | 24 June 1967 by Angelo Palmas |
Created Cardinal | 21 February 2001 by Pope John Paul II |
Rank | Cardinal-Deacon |
Personal details | |
Born |
Huê, Vietnam |
17 April 1928
Died | 16 September 2002 | (aged 74)
Nationality | Vietnamese |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Previous post |
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Motto | gaudium et spes |
Coat of arms | |
Sainthood | |
Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
Title as Saint | Venerable |
Styles of François Nguyễn Văn Thuận |
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Reference style | His Eminence |
Spoken style | Your Eminence |
Informal style | Cardinal |
See | Vadesi (titular) |
Phanxicô Xaviê Nguyễn Văn Thuận or François-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận (pronounced [ŋʷjə̌ˀn van tʰwə̂ˀn]; 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.
Pope Francis named him as Venerable on 4 May 2017, a significant step on the road towards canonization.
Thuận was born in Huế in 1928, the son of Nguyễn Văn Ấm and Elizabeth Ngô Đình Thị Hiệp, daughter of Ngô Đình Khả. He joined the seminary at An Ninh as a teenager, and was ordained a priest on 11 June 1953, by Monsignor Jean-Baptiste Urrutia. After six years of further studies in Rome, he was appointed in 1959–1967 as a faculty member and rector of the Seminary of Nha Trang.
He was appointed Bishop of Nha Trang on 13 April 1967 and received episcopal consecration on 4 June 1967 at Huế 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 reeducation camp for 13 years, nine in solitary confinement.