Pope welcomes Cardinal Van Thuan’s sainthood cause

(Sept. 17, 2007) Pope Benedict XVI on Monday expressed his support for the beatification process of a Vietnamese cardinal who spent 13 years under Vietnam's communist regime before being exiled from his country. “I welcomed with intimate joy the news of the cause of beatification of this singular prophet of Christian hope…” the Pope told officials and collaborators of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace who met him at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo a day after the 5th death anniversary of Cardinal Francois Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan.
The late prelate was appointed bishop of Nha Trang in 1967, and only a few months after being appointed in coadjutor of bishop of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) in 1974, he was arrested and imprisoned for 13 years, 9 of which were in solitary confinement. Expelled from Vietnam in 1991, Pope John Paul II received him in the Vatican where he began his work as Vice President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. He was made cardinal in 2001. From 1998 onwards Cardinal Van Thuan served as the Council's President. He died on Sept 16, 2002, after a long battle with cancer. Cardinal Renato Martino, who now heads the justice and peace council, announced over the weekend that Cardinal Van Thuan was being proposed as a candidate for beatification, a process that can lead to sainthood. Pope Benedict said he joyfully welcomed the news of the start of the cause of beatification of this singular prophet of Christian hope, and praised the Vietnamese prelate as “a man of hope, who lived in hope and spread it among those he came across.” Describing his life as a luminous witness of faith, the Holy Father also praised the patience with which Cardinal Van Thuan faced his illness and death, “giving himself over totally to the will of God.