CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, SEPT. 17, 2007 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI welcomed the news that the cause for beatification of Cardinal François-Xavier Nguyên Van Thuân has opened.
The Pope said that today when he received in audience officials from the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, of which Cardinal Van Thuân was president. In that capacity, he launched the preparation of the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, published in October 2004.
The Vietnamese cardinal died five years ago last Sunday.
The Holy Father said: "I gladly take this occasion to recall, once more, the luminous witness of faith that this heroic pastor left us. Bishop Francis Xavier -- as he liked to introduce himself -- was called to the house of the Father during the autumn of 2002, after a long period of sickness that he faced with total abandonment to God's will."
The Pontiff called Cardinal Van Thuân a "man of hope" and noted that it was this virtue that enabled him to endure physical and moral difficulties, including 13 years spent in prison.
Benedict XVI also noted the cardinal's focus on the present moment.
"Cardinal Van Thuân loved to repeat that the Christian is a man of now, of the present moment, to welcome and live with Christ’s love," the Holy Father said. "In this ability to live the present moment his intimate abandonment in God’s hands shines through as does the evangelical simplicity which we all admired in him.
"Is it possible -- he would ask -- that he who trusts in the Father would refuse to let himself be embraced in his arms?"
The Pope concluded praying that the cardinal's "example will be for us a valuable teaching."
ZE07091709 - 2007-09-17