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Francois Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan .

BIOGRAPHY

Francois Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan was born on April 17, 1928, in Phu Cam, in the diocese of Hue (Thua Tien province), in the central region of Vietnam. He came from a family of martyrs: in 1885 all the inhabitants of his mother’s village had been burned alive in the parish. Only his grandfather had been saved. At the same time, his paternal ancestors had been victims of numerous persecutions between 1698 and 1885.

The Van Thuans lived in an atmosphere of unshakable faith. His grandmother, for example, every night, after the family prayers, said a rosary for the priests. His mother, Elizabeth, had raised him as a Christian for as long as he can remember. Every night she narrated the stories of the Bible and the testimony of the martyrs. The day his son was arrested, he continued to pray for her to remain faithful to the Church, forgiving the executioners.

Consecration to God

Van Thuan was ordained a priest on June 11, 1953. After studies in Rome, he returned to Vietnam as a professor and later became rector of the seminary, vicar general, and finally, from April 3, 1967, bishop of Nha Trang. . Very active, he was also very loved: in just eight years the number of major seminarians went from 42 to 147, and the minors from 200 to 500. The core of his action was the teaching of Vatican II, so much so that he chose as his episcopal motto «Gaudium et spes”, Christian witness in the contemporary world. Hence, he devoted himself with all his strength to strengthening the presence of the laity and young people in the Church.

On April 24, 1975, a few days before the communist regime took power, Pope Paul VI appointed him Coadjutor Archbishop of Saigon (Hochiminh). A few weeks later he was arrested and then jailed. A very long night that lasted thirteen years, without trial or sentence, nine of which he spent incommunicado.

With the Gospel and without freedom

As soon as the communist regime arrived in Saigon, he was accused that his appointment was part of a «plot between the Vatican and the imperialists.» After three months of skirmishes and tensions, he was summoned to the presidential palace, from where he left with his hands handcuffed. It was two in the afternoon on August 15, 1975: he was wearing a cassock and had a rosary in his pocket. Despite the extremely precarious situation in which he found himself, he did not allow himself to be overcome by resignation or discouragement. What’s more, he tried to live the prison «filling it with love», as he would tell later. This is how, in October 1975, he began to compose a series of messages for the Christian community, thanks to a very young Catholic, a 7-year-old boy, Quang, who, at his request, secretly brought him scraps of paper. The bishop returned them to him in writing and at home the brothers and sisters were in charge of copying and distributing them. From these brief messages a book was born, “The path of hope”. Something similar happened in 1980, when he lived in home confinement in the compulsory residence in Giangxá: always at night, and in secret, he wrote «Hope does not disappoint», and then a third book: «The pilgrims on the path of hope».

Later he had to experience dramatic moments, such as a boat trip with 1,500 starving and desperate prisoners. For the effective testimony in all situations, he would since then remain incommunicado and watched day and night by two guards. Gathering any scrap of paper that came into his hands, he created a tiny personal Bible, into which he transcribed more than 300 phrases from the Gospel that he remembered by heart. It was his most precious treasure. But the central moment of his day was the celebration of the Eucharist: with three drops of wine and one of water in the palm of his hand… Before that period of isolation, even though he was under arrest, he had managed to create small Christian communities who met to pray and celebrate the Eucharist and, when possible, organize nights of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, kept in the paper of cigarette wrappers.

His unusual attitude of respect and attention towards the guards in charge of controlling him created such a relationship with them that they even asked him for foreign language lessons. When later, in Vinh Quang prison, he wanted to cut a piece of wood into the shape of a cross, the guard took the serious risk of granting it to him. In another jail, always because of his attitude of love, he was allowed to make a little chain for the crucifix with pieces of cable, and put it around his neck under his clothes. That cross was the one he continued to carry once he was named cardinal.

La libertad llegó de improviso. Cuando el ministro del Interior le preguntó si quería expresar algún deseo, contestó: “Ya he estado preso el tiempo suficiente, bajo tres pontífices, Pablo VI, Juan Pablo I y Juan Pablo II, y bajo cuatro secretarios generales del partido comunista soviético, Breznev, Andropov, Chernenko y Gorbachov. Déjenme libre ya mismo”. Salió el 21 de noviembre de 1988. Llegaron entonces los años de libertad en Occidente, pero exiliado de su país. En el Vaticano se advirtió enseguida su presencia, tan discreta como evidente.

En 1992 era nombrado miembro de la Comisión católica internacional para las migraciones. En 1992 se lo designaba vicepresidente del Consejo Pontificio de Justicia y Paz, del cual fue presidente a partir de 1998. Fue nombrado Cardenal en el Consistorio del 21 de febrero de 2001, fue miembro de otras congregaciones y consejos.

Ejercicios espirituales para Juan Pablo II

En el 2000 llega un momento conmovedor, llamado a predicar los ejercicios espirituales de Cuaresma a Juan Pablo II y la curia romana, el Papa, que lo había invitado a dar su testimonio, al concluir comentó: “Él mismo ha sido testigo de la cruz en los largos años de cárcel en Vietnam, nos ha contado frecuentemente hechos y episodios de su sufrido encarcelamiento. Nos ha confirmado en la certeza de que, cuando todo se derrumba a nuestro alrededor, y quizás también dentro de nosotros, Cristo sigue siendo indefectiblemente nuestro sosténFrancois Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan .