The Religious Ceremony That Unnerved Hà Nội 38 Years Ago

On July 2, 2026, more than 70,000 people are expected to gather at Tắc Sậy Church in Bạc Liêu—now part of Cà Mau Province—in the Diocese of Cần Thơ for the Beatification Mass of Father Trương Bửu Diệp. [1]

The event is significant not only religiously but also politically.

While the Vatican canonized 117 Vietnamese Catholic martyrs in 1988, the July 2026 Mass marks the first time such a ceremony has ever taken place on Vietnamese soil.

Why did a seemingly purely religious ceremony take several decades to be held publicly in Việt Nam, and why is this Mass in Cà Mau considered a milestone in relations between the Vietnamese government and the Vatican? 

To answer these questions, it is necessary to go back to 1988, when the canonization of the 117 martyrs occurred amid intense friction among the Vietnamese government, the Vatican, and the Catholic Church in Việt Nam.

From a Vatican Decision

In June 1987, Pope John Paul II approved the canonization of 117 Vietnamese martyrs, scheduling the ceremony for June 19, 1988, at the Vatican. [2] This was a major event for the Catholic Church. 

While these martyrs had been beatified in several stages—under Pope Leo XIII in 1900, Pius X in 1906 and 1909, and Pius XII in 1951—it was not until 1988 that the entire group was canonized together. [3]

After the decision was finalized, the Vatican notified the Church in Việt Nam. John Paul II sent a telegram to Cardinal Joseph Maria Trịnh Văn Căn, the archbishop of Hà Nội and president of the Vietnam Bishops’ Conference. [4] 

Cardinal Căn replied that Vietnamese Catholics were pleased by the news, noting his plans to lead a delegation from Việt Nam to Rome for the ceremony. 

Around the same time, a senior official from the Vatican Secretariat of State met informally with the Vietnamese ambassador to Italy. The Holy See aimed to inform Việt Nam in advance and ask the government to allow domestic celebrations and permit a delegation to attend the Vatican event.

From the beginning, observers believed that Hà Nội was unlikely to agree. Relations between the Holy See and Việt Nam had sharply deteriorated since 1975. [5] Following the communist victory on April 30, 1975, the government imprisoned more than 300 Catholic priests, closed nearly all seminaries for priestly training, and nationalized the Church’s schools, hospitals, charities, and orphanages. 

Even though 1988 marked the third year of Việt Nam’s Đổi Mới reform period, the repressive measures that began a decade earlier remained largely unchanged.

June 19: A Sensitive Date for the Government

Of the 117 martyrs, 96 were Vietnamese and 21 were foreign missionaries, including 11 Spanish priests and friars and 10 French priests. [6] While the Catholic Church viewed them as witnesses to the faith who represented a centuries-long history of religious persecution in Việt Nam, the Vietnamese government argued that these missionaries had paved the way for the French invasion. [7] More than anything, officials believed that Vietnamese refugees abroad could use the canonization as an anti-communist occasion. [8]

In March 1988, Nguyễn Quang Huy, chairman of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs, warned Vietnamese bishops that the canonization would cause harmful consequences, especially for the integration of Catholics into social life. [9] 

According to Huy, the Vatican’s decision distorted national history, placed clergy and lay Catholics in a difficult position, and hurt the feelings of non-Catholics. [10]

“Many Catholic priests also relied on colonialists to spread and consolidate their religion. […] This situation has left our nation and Catholicism in our country with many historical problems that remain unresolved to this day,” Huy said. 

He questioned whether the Vatican wanted to reopen an old chapter of history regarding Western colonialism and national loss to foreign invasion. [11]

On March 4, 1988, Cardinal Trịnh Văn Căn met with Võ Chí Công, chairman of Việt Nam’s State Council, to seek permission to communicate with the Vatican. [12] Công asked the bishops to fulfill their duties to the nation and the Church. 

As the canonization date approached, the cardinal continued to write to the government, requesting permission for a Catholic delegation to travel to Rome and for domestic Catholics to celebrate Mass. [13] 

The government ultimately denied those requests.

By April 1988, Võ Thái Hòa, another official at the Government Committee for Religious Affairs, escalated the rhetoric. He told The Associated Press in an interview: “This canonization is no longer a religious matter.” Hòa accused the Vatican of never consulting Hà Nội and argued that some individuals slated for canonization had participated in the invasion of Việt Nam under the guise of missionary work. [14] [15] 

He further demanded that the Vatican remove dossier statements claiming the Vietnamese government had persecuted the Church for 300 years and insisted that any references to the “Republic of Vietnam” be replaced with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. 

Still, the government’s greater concern was likely the threat of overseas Vietnamese organizing protests in Rome to incite domestic rebellion. 

“They are preparing South Vietnamese flags and anti-communist posters for this occasion,” Hòa said.

A Canonization with No Vietnamese Bishops

As June 19, 1988, approached, the Vietnamese government imposed specific restrictions. 

First, Vietnamese bishops were forbidden from traveling to Rome. [16] 

Second, domestic Catholics were instructed not to hold celebrations on June 19. Hà Nội Radio reported that the government opposed the date because it coincided with the anniversary of the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces Day, though the Vatican later insisted that the timing was merely a coincidence. [17] [18]

When the canonization ceremony took place at the Vatican on June 19, 1988, no Catholic dignitary from Việt Nam was permitted to leave the country to attend. Nevertheless, of the roughly 20,000 people present in St. Peter’s Square, about 8,000 were overseas Vietnamese. [19]

In his homily, Pope John Paul II opened with greetings to the Church in Việt Nam and the Vietnamese people, specifically acknowledging Cardinal Trịnh Văn Căn and the local bishops. 

A key part of his message was framing the martyrs in relation to the nation. He asserted that the martyrs did not reject the country’s cultural traditions or legitimate institutions; rather, through their witness, the Church sought to incarnate itself within the nation and contribute to the homeland’s true development. International media described the pontiff as proceeding with the event despite fierce opposition from Việt Nam’s communist government. [20] 

During the ceremony, he praised the “vitality and greatness” of the domestic Church and the resilience of its followers. He called for an end to religious persecution while emphasizing that Vietnamese Catholics remained loyal to both their country and their Church—effectively answering the Vietnamese government’s accusations.

Following the ceremony, Nguyễn Quang Huy stated that if the Vatican had consulted Hà Nội and selected a different date, the government might have permitted a delegation to attend. [21] 

As a gesture of goodwill, the government announced it would allow domestic churches to celebrate the canonization on Sept. 1, 1988. Some parishes were indeed allowed to hold thanksgiving Masses in September 1988, but this permission came with definitive conditions. [22] 

The state mandated that Masses could not occur outside church grounds, that statues of the saints remain small, and that liturgical texts be strictly drawn from the common of martyrs in the Roman Missal, with explicit limits on the readings.

The Government Eased Repression

Following Hà Nội’s restrictive stance during the canonization dispute, Việt Nam-Vatican relations did not immediately improve. For years, both sides remained cautious and frequently clashed over the appointment of Church officials, the management of Church property, and the imprisonment and re-education of priests. However, driven by the pressing need for economic development, the Vietnamese government eventually began to ease its religious repression.

In 1991, amid a severe shortage of priests caused by state restrictions, Cardinal Bernard Law led a delegation to Hà Nội. [23] He informed Foreign Minister Nguyễn Mạnh Cầm that he was actively pushing for the United States to lift its economic embargo on Việt Nam. 

Decades later, progress became more visible. By 2018, marking the 30th anniversary of the canonization, the Catholic Church in Việt Nam was finally permitted to hold commemorations at vital sites like Sở Kiện, La Vang, and Ba Giồng. [24] 

This was the first time the domestic Church had publicly commemorated the 117 Vietnamese martyrs since the original 1988 event. [25]

Việt Nam-Vatican relations, though slow-moving, continued to improve through sustained dialogue. 

In 2023, Việt Nam and the Holy See reached a landmark agreement regarding the status of a resident papal representative. [26] By the end of that year, Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Marek Zalewski to the role, making him the Holy See’s first resident papal representative in Việt Nam. [27] 

While this appointment still does not constitute full and formal diplomatic relations, it marks a major departure from the hostilities of 1988. [28]

As a result, the Beatification Mass at Tắc Sậy in Cà Mau on July 2, 2026, carries profound meaning beyond its religious significance. 

Thirty-eight years ago, authorities barred the nation’s bishops from traveling to Rome, and they forbade domestic Catholics from celebrating on the actual day of canonization. Today, tens of thousands are expected to gather inside Việt Nam for Father Trương Bửu Diệp’s beatification, organized publicly by the local Church amid significantly improved bilateral ties. 

For many observers and faithful alike, perhaps 38 years was simply too long to wait to witness such a transformation.

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Thúc Kháng wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on July 2, 2026. The Vietnamese Magazine has the copyrights to the English translation.