The life of Cardinal Van Thuân, who was my predecessor at the head of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, was undoubtedly characterized by extraordinary complexity: on the one hand, there was the historical and political complexity which greatly affected his country, Vietnam, during the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s (suffice to mention the key players who, in those years, were engaged in that critical region of the world: France, China, the United States; the political and ideological confrontation between North and South Vietnam; the conflicting passions with which the mass media have covered and still cover that story today, which they refer to time and again when dealing with current conflicts in other parts of the world); on the other hand, there was a complexity which was linked to the Cardinal’s personal characteristics and to the peculiar circumstances of a quite remarkable Christian and ecclesial life experience.
In his life we can identify both these aspects - both the historical context and the specifically personal one - which inevitably clash, intermingle and mix, so as to make Cardinal Van Thuân’s personal and ecclesial experience totally unique and symbolic. In a way, this complexity is a kind of existential “destiny”: a complexity which, to some extent, the Cardinal inherited from his family, which used to be amongst the most prominent and influential in Vietnam; his family “destiny” had in the Cardinal its most remarkable expression, of both national and international renown, and also its most dramatic outcome.
A recent biography of the Cardinal carries a meaningful title: The Miracle of Hope. Usually the word miracle is associated with faith, with powerful testimonies of faith or, even more often, with works of charity. It is quite unusual to find the word miracle linked to the word hope. And yet I don’t think there could be a more fortunate association to find a motto to describe Cardinal Van Thuân’s life. Everything, in so many circumstances in his life, pointed towards desperate and hopeless outcomes (just think about the many serious illnesses that have plagued him throughout his life; his painful episcopate, which was spent mostly in Vietnamese jails rather than in the direct rule of God’s people; the discovery of the tumor that would eventually bring him to his grave at the same time when he received the note indicating his appointment as Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church; his visceral love for his people and nation, which was almost always experienced in terms of exile or rejection) and yet, despite everything, Christian hope has displayed in this man the traits of miraculous fecundity, which conquers and renews. “We can truly say that ‘his hope was filled with immortality’ (cf. Wis 3: 4-6). And therefore it was filled with Christ, life and resurrection for those who trust in Him”: this is what the Holy Father had to say in the homily for our beloved Cardinal’s funeral.
And hope was the central theme of the texts published by the Cardinal: texts of spirituality, from The Road of Hope, written in 1975 while he was in jail, to The Testimony of Hope, which gathers the Lenten Spiritual Exercises that Cardinal Van Thuân gave to the Holy Father and the Roman Curia in 2000, the year of the Great Jubilee. Hope lived out as virtue, and as a paradigm, also helped the Cardinal to always be a very endearing, simple, kindhearted man, because his confidence in God made him extremely open and kind towards his brethren, even towards his enemies.
This is how André Nguyen Van Chau, a long-time friend of the Cardinal, remembers him in the biography he has recently written:
“Kind and smiling, Cardinal François-Xavier Nguyên Van Thuân always greeted his visitors walking towards them with both arms stretched out in a welcoming gesture”.
“What struck me the most every time I met him was his extreme politeness. He showed respect towards all the people he met along his way, including those who betrayed, persecuted or tortured him”.
“He would speak slowly, choosing each word with great accuracy. His voice was sweet and his manner of speech was eloquent in its simplicity. It was quite obvious that his simple ideas came from a great inner depth and, for those who used to listen to him talk, his words would become an invitation to do some soul-searching…”.
“Despite the depth of his thought, he has always been as simple as a child. He accepted vulnerability as the natural price to pay for his sincerity and outspokenness: all features which certainly were quite difficult for him to live by, considering the great evil that many people have caused to him and his family”.
Each one of us knows that when we are dealing with Cardinal Van Thuân, with his troubled life and his exceptional Christian testimony, we are basically dealing with God Himself who, through His imperscrutable signs, performed the miracle of hope.
There is an aspect in Cardinal Van Thuân’s life which deserves to be explored in greater depth. It has to do with the Church’s missionary work to bring the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ to the lands of Far East Asia: a project, a dream, which has sustained countless missionaries and which has been left substantially unfinished. Cardinal Van Thuân used to repeat that, after the evangelization of Europe, America and Africa, the great challenge that the Church would have to face in her evangelizing mission was to bring the Gospel to Asia. He would describe this humungous task with his characteristic disarming and evangelical simplicity, but also with his political acumen – since we should not forget that the Cardinal used to breathe politics on a daily basis within his own family.
Card. Renato R. Martino
President of the Pontifical Council
for Justice and Peace
Vatican City
Cardinal Van Thuan Books published in Italy.
- Cinque pani e due pesci, San Paolo Edizioni, Cinisello Balsamo 1997
- Il cammino della speranza, Ed. Città Nuova, Roma 1992
- La speranza non delude, Ed. Città Nuova, Roma 1997
- Preghiere di speranza, San Paolo Edizioni, Cinisello Balsamo 1997.
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Observatorio Internacional Cardenal Van Thuan