J.M.J.
One of the world’s great witnesses to Jesus Christ
died on September 16, 2002 at the age of 74. The Venerable François-Xavier Cardinal
Nguyễn Văn Thuận, the President of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace,
succumbed to cancer.
His story is astonishing.
The future prelate was born in Huê, Vietnam on April
17, 1928. A pious lad from a devout family that counted among its relatives
some of the early Vietnamese martyrs, François-Xavier was ordained to the
Sacred Priesthood on June 11, 1953. Six years later, he obtained the Doctorate
in Canon Law from the Pontifical Urban University, Rome.
Father Văn Thuận’s prayerfulness and brilliance were quickly
recognized. He was appointed as a seminary professor and later as the Rector of
the Seminary and the Vicar General of the Diocese. Pope Saint Paul VI nominated
him as the Bishop of Nha Trang on April 13, 1967.
The same Sovereign Pontiff, in 1975, named Bishop Văn Thuận as the Coadjutor
Archbishop of Saigon (now known as Hô Chí Minh City). His Excellency took as
his episcopal motto the title of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council’s Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the
Modern World, Gaudium et Spes.
The triumph of South Vietnam by the Communists was
completed that year; the entire country had “gone red.” The new Coadjutor
Archbishop was arrested on the Solemnity of the Assumption, August 15, 1975,
and incarcerated for thirteen years, nine of which were endured in solitary
confinement in Vinh Phu prison in Hanoi.
The Archbishop was conscious of his bond to an
esteemed group of persecuted Vietnamese Catholics who meekly but resolutely
carried the Cross of Christ. Within 300 years, 130,000 Vietnamese Catholics
died for the Faith, of whom 118 have been beatified. The number of Catholics in
Vietnam since 1975 who similarly have died is unknown.
Archbishop Văn Thuận was released from prison in 1988 to house arrest; he
was denied permission to perform his pastoral duties. He was allowed to leave
Vietnam in March 1989 to visit his elderly parents in Sydney, Australia. He
also traveled to Rome where he met with Pope Saint John Paul II.
In 1991, the Archbishop was expelled from his beloved
Vietnam.
Pope John Paul II named Archbishop Văn Thuận the Vice President of
the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace in November 1994 and promoted him
to the Presidency on June 24, 1998—thirty-one years to the day on which he was
ordained to the Episcopate. In March during the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000,
he preached the annual Lenten Retreat to the Pontiff and the members of the
Roman Curia.
The Holy Father created Archbishop Văn Thuận a cardinal in the
Consistory of February 21, 2001.
In 2002, a few months before his death that, in the words
of the Holy Father, had been preceded by “a long and painful illness,” Cardinal
Văn Thuận acknowledged that soon the Church would publish a compendium of her
doctrine regarding important social issues—like wealth, unemployment, resources
and debt.
Upon the Cardinal’s death, Pope John Paul sent a
telegram of condolence to his one hundred year-old Mother who lived in a
nursing home in Rome.
On September 20, 2002, the Holy Father presided and
preached at the Mass of Christian Burial celebrated by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the
Vatican Secretary of State. During his homily, Pope Saint John Paul disclosed
the “pearl” that enriched Cardinal Văn Thuận’s life: “His secret was indomitable trust in God,
nourished by prayer and suffering, accepted with love.”
Now we know a little about this Vietnamese hero. But
does he teach us something?
The Risen Lord Jesus Christ is our only hope. Isolated
in prison for over a decade, the Coadjutor Archbishop of Saigon could have
despaired. Instead, he remained steeped in prayer and penance, constantly
keeping his eyes fixed on the Master. The humble inmate knew that the
beneficent Savior would not abandon him. And his loyalty to and trust in Jesus
provided a stellar example for his jailers and fellow prisoners.
The Most Holy Eucharist is our most magnificent
treasure. How easy it is for those who routinely have access to Mass to treat
the Bread of Life and Chalice of Salvation with an over-familiarity—and worse,
carelessness. Not the imprisoned Archbishop! He gladly offered the Holy
Sacrifice of the Mass behind bars. If he had been discovered, he would have
been punished severely. Years later, in Testimony
of Hope: The Spiritual Exercises of
John Paul II (Boston: Pauline Books
and Media, 2000), the Cardinal described his clandestine Masses after having
received bread and wine from the Faithful.
I will never be able to express my great joy! Every
day, with three drops of wine and a drop of water in the palm of my hand, I would
celebrate Mass. This was my altar, and this was my cathedral! It was true
medicine for soul and body, “Medicine of immortality, remedy so as not to die
but to have life always in Jesus,” as St. Ignatius of Antioch says.
Each time I celebrated the Mass, I had the opportunity
to extend my hands and nail myself to the cross with Jesus, to drink with Him
the bitter chalice. Each day in reciting the words of Consecration, I confirmed
with all my heart and soul a new pact, an eternal pact between Jesus and me
through His Blood mixed with mine. Those were the most beautiful Masses of my
life! (page 131)
Love and the forgiveness of enemies are obligatory,
not optional. Bitterness was not in the Archbishop’s vocabulary. He freely and
willingly loved and pardoned his captors. When a prison guard expressed his
incredulity how the prelate could love him and the others who jailed him for
years without a proper trial and sentence, Archbishop Văn Thuận replied: “Because Jesus
has taught me to love everyone, even my enemies. If I don’t, I am no longer
worthy to be called a Christian.” (page 70)
In prison the Archbishop pleaded with Our Blessed Lady:
“Mother, if you see that I can no longer be useful to your Church, grant me the
grace to consume my life in prison. Otherwise, allow me to leave prison on one
of your Feasts.” (page 199) On November 21, 1988, the Memorial of the
Presentation of Mary, Archbishop Văn Thuận was summoned to see the Minister of the Interior and was
immediately granted his unexpected release from jail. He never forgot, whether
in or out of custody, the Virgin of Tenderness who delights in assisting her
children, regardless of—and on account of—the seemingly impossible circumstances.
To assert that the Venerable François-Xavier Cardinal Nguyễn Văn Thuận was a spiritual giant
of the twentieth century is no overstatement. And perhaps some of us may even
live to see him elevated to the glories of the Altar.
The unpretentious Cardinal Văn Thuận, who prized the Most
Blessed Sacrament and cheerfully lived under the gentle mantle of the
Immaculata, displayed the abundant charity and unparalleled mercy of Christ
both inside and outside of detention. For that, the Church in the Third
Christian Millennium is much richer.
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