François Nguyễn Văn Thuận

Then began for Bishop Nguyễn Văn Thuận a long and painful captivity that would last thirteen years, without any trial. He spent nine of these thirteen years in total isolation, notably in the prisons of Cây Vông, Phú Khánh, and Thủ Đức, and then in the Vĩnh Quang re-education camp in North Vietnam. During the first months of his detention, he managed to clandestinely write brief meditations on scraps of old calendars, which he sent to his faithful through a young boy. These 1,001 thoughts, copied by hand and widely distributed, would form his major work: The Road of Hope, considered his spiritual testament. He also wrote other spiritual works in captivity, including Prayers of Hope and Five Loaves and Two Fish. Released on November 21, 1988, on the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, he was initially placed under house arrest at the Archbishop's house in Hanoi, forbidden from any pastoral ministry. In 1991, authorized to travel to Rome for a visit, he was forbidden from returning to his homeland by the Vietnamese government, thus beginning a definitive exile. Welcomed to the Vatican by Pope John Paul II, he was appointed Vice-President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace on November 24, 1994, and then became its President on June 24, 1998. In this position, he gave a decisive impetus to the drafting of the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, a major project he prepared with determination but which he would not see published during his lifetime due to his illness. In the year 2000, John Paul II invited him to preach the Lenten spiritual exercises for the Roman Curia, preachings published under the title Witnesses of Hope. On February 21, 2001, he was created Cardinal-Deacon of Santa Maria della Scala by John Paul II. Stricken with cancer, he passed away in Rome on September 16, 2002, at the age of 74.

The reputation for holiness of Cardinal Nguyễn Văn Thuận spread rapidly throughout the world, carried by his heroic testimony of faith and forgiveness. On September 16, 2007, the fifth anniversary of his death, the Diocese of Rome officially opened his cause for beatification and canonization, with the warm support of Pope Benedict XVI. The diocesan phase of the inquiry, which gathered thousands of pages of documents and numerous testimonies from people who knew him, was solemnly closed on July 5, 2013, at the Lateran Palace in Rome.

On May 4, 2017, Pope Francis authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree recognizing the heroic virtues of Cardinal François-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận, thereby conferring upon him the title of Venerable. For his beatification to be pronounced, the official recognition of a scientifically inexplicable miracle attributed to his intercession is required. The postulation of the cause, led by Dr. Waldery Hilgeman, continues to study several reports of graces and unexplained healings, notably a recent case reported in Vietnam, but no miracle has yet been the subject of an official decree of approval.

The spirituality of Venerable François-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận is entirely centered on the Eucharist, trusting abandonment to Providence, and Christian hope lived in the heart of darkness. In prison, deprived of all religious objects, he managed to fashion a small pectoral cross from a piece of wood and wire that complicit guards provided him. His greatest spiritual comfort lay in the clandestine celebration of the Mass: each day, he used three drops of wine and a drop of water in the palm of his hand, with a few crumbs of bread, to consecrate the Eucharist and distribute it secretly to his cellmates. His spirituality also rests on the principle of choosing God rather than the works of God. Faced with the loss of his pastoral activities and his freedom, he understood that his mission was to live the present moment fully with love, transforming his prison into a place of prayer and evangelization. Through his patience, his gentleness, and his refusal of hatred, he managed to win the respect and affection of his guards, some of whom converted. His spiritual legacy has been praised several times by the Church's magisterium. Pope Benedict XVI, in his encyclical Spe Salvi (2007), cites Cardinal Nguyễn Văn Thuận as a model of hope capable of dialoguing with God in the most total solitude. Pope Francis also mentions him in his apostolic exhortations Gaudete et exsultate (2018) and Christus vivit (2019) to illustrate holiness in daily life and the art of living in the present moment. In March 2026, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the writing of The Road of Hope, an international symposium titled "François-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận, Witness of Hope" was held in Rome to honor his memory and highlight the relevance of his message.