An international symposium and celebrations at his grave in Rome with pilgrims from the Vietnamese diaspora characterized the anniversary celebrated on this date. Cardinal Czerny: “May his testimony of unwavering faith and unconditional love give strength to today’s persecuted Christians.” Postulator Hilgeman: “Reports continue to come in of graces granted through his intercession, including a healing in Vietnam.”
Rome () Twenty years ago – on September 16, 2002 – Card. François-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận, Vietnamese archbishop, who spent 13 years of his life in prison after the fall of Saigon and left an extraordinary testimony of faith in the midst of persecution, fueled by a deep spirituality.
When he regained his freedom, Van Thuan was called to the Vatican by John Paul II as president of the then Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. His testimony and his figure were remembered in Rome with a series of events organized by the Dicastery for Integral Human Development (heir to the body presided over for a long time by the Vietnamese cardinal) and by the postulation of the cause of beatification of Cardinal Van Thuan, whose heroic virtues were recognized in 2017. An international symposium entitled “Van Thuan. Life, holiness and mission”, with the testimonies of Brother Ambrogio Van Sy, a member of the historical commission for the cause, who was ordained a deacon in Vietnam by Van Thuan himself, the vice-postulator, Father Marco Da Silva Luis, and Mons. Bernard Munono, who accompanied the cardinal on his travels in Africa and worked with him on the drafting of the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church (the presentations can be heard on this link).
Also attending the symposium were numerous pilgrims from the Vietnamese diaspora who traveled especially from the United States, Canada and Spain, as well as those belonging to the large Vietnamese community in Rome. The songs and the faith of this Catholic community also animated the other two moments of the celebrations in Rome for this twentieth anniversary: Eucharistic adoration, yesterday afternoon in the church of Santa Maria della Scala, where Card. Van Thuan, and the mass for the anniversary of his death, which took place this morning in the church of Santa Maria di Trastevere.
“We thank the Lord for having given us the person of Card. Van Thuan,” Cardinal Michael Czerny, prefect of the Dicastery for Integral Development, said at the opening of the celebrations. Czerny recalled “her testimony to him of unshakable faith in him, of meekness beyond all limits, of unconditional love for his neighbor and even for his jailers.” During the long years that he spent in a cell without light or windows, he was “in solitude, but close to the Lord whom he met in the Eucharist and in the other prisoners, and in that encounter he received the strength to overcome the trials . And I can’t stop thinking – he added – of so many Christians persecuted and killed because of their faith in the world today “.
“The testimony of life and faith of Card. Van Thuan – said Card. Czerny – is a reason for hope for all of us. I hope that it will also be a source of inspiration for many young people who today are experiencing moments of disorientation in these very difficult times, marked by the consequences of the pandemic and wars, in Ukraine and in many other parts of the world. Holiness is possible for each one of us, when life is nourished by the Word of God and by the encounter with Christ in the Eucharist and in our neighbor”.
The symposium was also an opportunity to update the process of the beatification cause of Card. Van Thuan. Postulator Waldery Hilgeman explained that a miracle that occurred through his intercession is still being studied. “Reports of graces granted continue to arrive; recently, for example, about the healing of a person in Vietnam itself. With all the linguistic complexity that this entails, the translation of the medical records to evaluate the case has already been completed. But the most important thing to keep in mind is that there is life behind this cause. People continue to pray to Van Thuan and also send us simple stories: difficulties overcome in the family, difficult daily experiences lived in his company… As a postulator I can say that it is by no means an inactive cause, because it is the people who maintain long live his memory.”
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