The funeral of the cardinal, who led the Church in Saigon from 1998 to 2014 and passed away on Sunday at the age of 93, took place today. Mons. Peter Van Kham, who served as his auxiliary bishop, recalls: "He always placed his trust in the Lord. And he knew how to involve everyone in the mission of making Christ’s love ever more widely known.”
A conference in Rome looked at the 1,001 messages the cardinal wrote while imprisoned in Vietnam. They were brought to his family, who had found refuge in Australia, hand-copied by people who later escaped by boat. Declared venerable by Francis in 2017, the cardinal was an extraordinary example of meekness and love for Christ. For Cardinal Tagle: "There was no trace of bitterness or hatred in him." His sister Élisabeth was present; she co-authored a new biography that was published recently.
The decade-long restoration of Notre Dame has been completed. The installation coincides with the feast of St. Joseph. For Bishop Zalewski, they are “a sign of faith placed in the heart of the city.” Last year, over 200 churches, ecclesiastical buildings, and other structures related to pastoral work were constructed nationwide.
This Sunday, 73.5 million voters will be called to pick 500 representatives out of 864 candidates rigorously selected by the Communist Party of Vietnam. The vote is another key step after the Congress to consolidate Tô Lâm's leadership.
A delegation from UNIAPAC, which brings together 45,000 entrepreneurs from around the world in the name of the Church's social teaching, is meeting with Catholic colleagues from Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam to establish new contacts. The goal is to develop businesses that put people, not profit, at the centre, in places where GDP growth too often fails to address inequality.
An investigation has been launched into a warehouse accused of producing powder mixed with soybeans in Lam Dong province. The product is destined for the domestic market. Vietnam is a leader in exports of the Robusta variety, which is experiencing a boom in sales on international markets: in the first 15 days of 2026 alone, there was an increase of over 20% in sales volumes.
