HANOI - THOUSANDS of people gathered on Thursday to mourn a Vietnamese cardinal who died aged 89 after long advocating the establishment of diplomatic ties between the Vatican and the communist country.
Followers poured in from several provinces for mass at Hanoi cathedral to mourn Pham Dinh Tung, who died on Sunday, with the sheer number of mourners forcing many to sit out on the wet street.
Born in May 1919 in northern Ninh Binh province, Pham Dinh Tung became a priest in 1931.
After the departure of French colonialists in 1954, in a divided country ruled by the communists in the North he played an important role as a leader for the catholics, followers said.
'In the very difficult years, he helped Vietnamese catholics to keep the faith,' said Mr Pham Van Dung, secretary of Hanoi archbishop Ngo Quang Kiet.
Mr Pham Dinh Tung once refused to continue teaching at a seminary in protest at a communist ruling to give political lectures there, the secretary said.
Mr Pham Dinh Tung became bishop of another northern province, Bac Ninh, in 1963, where he lived under strict surveillance by authorities, one source said.
However, he went on to become Hanoi's archbishop in 1994 and cardinal the same year. As early as the late 1990s he advocated a visit by Pope John Paul II to Vietnam, but this never happened.
Vietnam has South-east Asia's largest Roman Catholic community after the Philippines - about six million out of a population of 86 million - but relations have long been strained between Catholics and the Communist Party. -- AFP
(Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/SE%2BAsia/Story/STIStory_343333.html)
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| Followers at the funeral mass at Hanoi cathedral- PHOTO: AP |
Followers poured in from several provinces for mass at Hanoi cathedral to mourn Pham Dinh Tung, who died on Sunday, with the sheer number of mourners forcing many to sit out on the wet street.
Born in May 1919 in northern Ninh Binh province, Pham Dinh Tung became a priest in 1931.
After the departure of French colonialists in 1954, in a divided country ruled by the communists in the North he played an important role as a leader for the catholics, followers said.
'In the very difficult years, he helped Vietnamese catholics to keep the faith,' said Mr Pham Van Dung, secretary of Hanoi archbishop Ngo Quang Kiet.
Mr Pham Dinh Tung once refused to continue teaching at a seminary in protest at a communist ruling to give political lectures there, the secretary said.
Mr Pham Dinh Tung became bishop of another northern province, Bac Ninh, in 1963, where he lived under strict surveillance by authorities, one source said.
However, he went on to become Hanoi's archbishop in 1994 and cardinal the same year. As early as the late 1990s he advocated a visit by Pope John Paul II to Vietnam, but this never happened.
Vietnam has South-east Asia's largest Roman Catholic community after the Philippines - about six million out of a population of 86 million - but relations have long been strained between Catholics and the Communist Party. -- AFP
(Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/SE%2BAsia/Story/STIStory_343333.html)