The Vietnamese government has refused to grant entry visas to members of a Vatican delegation investigating the cause for beatification of Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuan. Vietnamese Catholics, distressed by the government’s move, believe that the decision to refuse visas for the 3 Vatican officials gathering testimony about Cardinal Van Thuan demonstrates the sensitivity of the late cardinal’s case.
Cardinal Van Thuan was arrested in 1975, shortly after his appointment as coadjutor archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon); he spent 13 years in jail before being released and brought to the Vatican.
The Vietnamese prelate, who after serving 13 years in prison camps in his native land, was president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace from 1998 until his death in 2002.