Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saigon explained

Jurisdiction:Metropolitan Archdiocese
Saigon
Local:Vietnamese: Tổng giáo phận đô thành Sài Gòn
Vietnamese: Tổng giáo phận Sài Gòn
Latin:Archidioecesis Metropolitanae Saigonensis
Country:Việt Nam
Province:Sài Gòn
Coordinates:10.7799°N 106.699°W
Sui Iuris Church:Latin Church
Rite:Roman Rite
Cathedral:Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception
Area Km2:2,093
Population:8,635,962
Population As Of:2022
Catholics:713,677
Catholics Percent:8.3
Parishes:203
Priests:379
Metro Archbishop:Joseph Nguyễn Năng
Bishop Title:Archbishop
Emeritus Bishops:Jean-Baptiste Phạm Minh Mẫn
Auxiliary Bishops:Joseph Bùi Công Trác
Suffragans:
Patron:Immaculate Conception
Denomination:Catholic Church
Coat:Huy_hieu_Tong_Giam_muc_Giuse_Nguyen_Nang.png
Deaneries:14
Coat Caption:The coat of arms of Archbishop Năng

The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Saigon (Vietnamese: Tổng giáo phận đô thành Sài Gòn, Latin: Archidioecesis Metropolitanae Saigonensis) or Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnamese: Tổng giáo phận Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Latin: Archidioecesis Hochiminhopolitana) is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in the south of Vietnam. By far the largest diocese in the country by population of people and second in the number of Catholics, yet like most big cities it only covers a small area of .

The suffragan dioceses are:

Immaculate Conception Cathedral Basilica (Vương cung thánh đường Chính tòa Đức Mẹ Vô nhiễm Nguyên tội - Nhà thờ Đức Bà Sài Gòn) in Ho Chi Minh City has been assigned as the cathedral of the archdiocese.[1] There are also Saint Francis Xavier Church, Jeanne d'Arc Church, Saint Joseph Church, Sacred Heart Church, Saint Philip Church, Tân Định Church.

By 2004, the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City had about 602,478 believers (11.0% of the population), 519 priests and 195 parishes.[2]

The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh city is a "sister" diocese of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles (United States) since 2008.[3]

The archdiocese ministers often take part in international exchanges and contacts, though with special permission of the Vietnamese authorities.

The young Catholics from the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh city and Archdiocese of Hanoi formed in 2006 an organization for helping children in rural and underdeveloped areas of Vietnam.[4] The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City regularly organizes special mass events including the Youth Day in December 2007, which was attended by more than 7 000 young people, who take part in volunteer and charitable activities,[5] and two prayer vigils "God is rich in compassion" in March 2008 with the participation of several thousand faithful.[6]

There is a center of social work organized by the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh city, which consists of priests, laypeople and members of civil groups. The center is occupied with three main problems: helping street children, activities to reduce HIV/AIDS level and help its victims, social and psychological work with prostitutes to get them off the streets.[7]

Name

Since its establishment in 1844, this archdiocese has gone through various names: Vicariate Apostolic of West Tonkin (1844 - 1924), Vicariate Apostolic of Saigon (1924 - 1960), and then the Archdiocese of Saigon (from 1960).

Nowadays, this archdiocese is called the Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City, after the administrative name of the city, and in its communications, the Vatican uses this name.

In reality, the name Archdiocese of Saigon is still used in the documents of the Catholic Church in Vietnam. Additionally, sometimes the name used is the Archdiocese of Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City.

Cathedral

Notre Dame Cathedral in Ho Chi Minh City is considered to be one of the main city attractions and one of the most beautiful buildings in all Vietnam. It was built from 1877 to 1880 by the French architect J. Bourad, has a Neo-Romanesque façade with twin towers and a statue of the Virgin Mary in the center front.[8]

Bishops

Vicars Apostolic of Western Cochin

Vicars Apostolic of Sài Gòn

Archbishops of Ho Chi Minh City

From 1960 to 1976, the archbishop was titled Archbishop of Saigon.

  1. Paul Nguyễn Văn Bình (24 November 1960 – 1 July 1995)
  2. Jean-Baptiste Phạm Minh Mẫn (1 March 1998 – 22 March 2014) (elevated to Cardinal in 2003)
  3. Paul Bùi Văn Đọc (22 March 2014 – 6 March 2018)
    • Joseph Đỗ Mạnh Hùng (8 March 2018 – 19 October 2019), Apostolic administrator
  4. Joseph Nguyễn Năng (19 October 2019 –)

Coadjutor archbishops

Auxiliary Bishops

  1. François-Xavier Trần Thanh Khâm (14 October 1965 – 2 October 1976)
  2. Nicolas Huỳnh Văn Nghi (1 July 1974 – 19 March 1975), appointed Apostolic Administrator and then Bishop of Phan Thiết (later appointed Apostolic Administrator here)
  3. Aloisius Phạm Văn Nẫm (3 December 1977 – 30 September 1999)
  4. Joseph Vũ Duy Thống (4 July 2001 – 25 July 2009), appointed Bishop of Phan Thiết
  5. Pierre Nguyễn Văn Khảm (15 October 2008 – 26 July 2014), appointed Bishop of Mỹ Tho
  6. Joseph Đỗ Mạnh Hùng (25 June 2016 – 3 December 2019), was concurrently Apostolic Administrator here and later appointed as Bishop of Phan Thiết
  7. Louis Nguyễn Anh Tuấn (25 August 2017 – 25 March 2023), was concurrently appointed Apostolic Administrator and later Bishop of Diocese of Hà Tĩnh
  8. Joseph Bùi Công Trác (1 November 2022 – present)[9] [10]

Other secular clergy who became bishops

See also

Notes and References

  1. http://www.gcatholic.org/churches/data/cathVN.htm#chk GCatholic.org
  2. http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/diocese/dthan.html Catholic Hierarchy Directory
  3. LA Times, August 2008
  4. "Catholic youth accompany abandoned children", May 2006, in Asia News
  5. "More than 7,000 young people take part in Saigon diocese's Youth day", Asia News on Vietnam, December 2007
  6. "More than 7 thousand faithful gather to reflect on God's compassion", Asia News, March 2008
  7. "Ho Chi Minh City, Catholics at work against AIDS and prostitution", Asia News, February 2008
  8. Images of Notre Dame Cathedral, by Mary Ann Sullivan, Bluffton University
  9. News: Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Bui Cong Trac . 2024-04-04 . Union of Catholic Asian News.
  10. News: 2022-11-02 . Ho Chi Minh City gets new auxiliary Bishop . Herald Malaysia Online.

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