Pope Francis sends condolences for the death of Nguyen Phu Trong

This July 23, Pope Francis sent his condolences for the death of Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party and former president of Vietnam.

Nguyen Phu Trong died last Friday, July 19, at the age of 80 in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, due to his advanced age and after fighting a serious illness.

In the telegram, released today by the Press Office of the Holy See and signed by the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy Father addressed his condolences “to all those who mourn his loss, especially to his family.” .

Pope Francis also assured his prayers for his “consolation and peace”, while showing his appreciation for the role of this politician “in fostering and promoting the positive development of relations between Vietnam and the Holy See.”

Likewise, he expressed his spiritual closeness to all citizens “in these moments of pain for the nation.”

Who was Nguyen Phu Trong?

Nguyen Phu Trong, considered the most powerful politician in the country, was born on April 14, 1944 in Hanoi (Vietnam) and obtained a doctorate in Philology in the Soviet Union.

He joined the Communist Party in 1967 and has been general secretary since 2011. He was elected President of Vietnam in 2018 and was also president of the National Assembly between 2006 and 2011.

Just a month ago he had met with Vladimir Putin, whom he congratulated on his re-election as president of Russia and with whom he maintained a cordial relationship as an essential piece of his foreign policy.

For their part, several political leaders, including Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, have paid tribute to Trong in recent days.

Relations between Vietnam and the Holy See

There are currently 92,784,477 inhabitants in Vietnam, of which 6,838,216 are Catholics, that is, 7.4% of the population, according to statistics published by the Holy See.

On January 22, 2013, the then Pope Benedict XVI received Nguyen Phu Trong at the Vatican and both discussed issues of interest to both countries.

This fthe first time in history of relations between Vietnam and the Holy See that a general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Asian country was received by the Holy Father in the Vatican.

According to the Vatican, this historic meeting pursued “the desire that some pending issues can be resolved soon and that the existing beneficial collaboration be strengthened.”

It should be remembered that on July 27, 2023, Pope Francis will return to Vo Van Thuongpresident of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

On that occasion, both parties announced the approval of a historic agreement that allows the Holy See to once again have a permanent representative in the Asian country.

The historic agreement allows Vietnam’s Catholic community to once again have a permanent representative of the Holy See in the country, after the last apostolic delegate was expelled in 1975 by the communist government.

Likewise, during a private audience with a delegation of representatives of the country’s communist party in January of this year, the Holy Father expressed his wish to visit Vietnamese Catholics.