How are the first missionaries who brought the faith to Vietnam remembered, and how is this memory embraced?

The Vietnamese are deeply grateful to the missionaries. We are happy to have received the Good News of the Gospel thanks to the missionaries. We especially remember the French Jesuit Alexandre de Rhodes, an important figure who came to Vietnam in 1600 and had the opportunity to work with the Portuguese missionary Francisco de Pina to transcribe the local language into Latin script. They created a new writing system for the Vietnamese language, which we still use today. Thanks to them, Vietnam is the only country in Asia that uses the Latin alphabet, while other countries have their own calligraphy. Developing a new script for a people is an achievement of the highest value. Even the Vietnamese government and Vietnamese universities, which are sometimes reluctant to acknowledge the work of the missionaries, cannot deny this fact and must give Alexandre de Rhodes and his colleagues the recognition they deserve. Missionaries from many other orders also worked in Vietnam, such as the Jesuits, Augustinians, Dominicans, Franciscans, priests of the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris (MEP), and many others. The first two French missionaries were also the first two bishops appointed by the Holy See in Vietnam, both in the south and the north: Bishop Lambert de la Motte and Bishop François Pallu. In 2024, we initiated the diocesan process for their beatification. I would like to emphasize that our parishes regularly organize pilgrimages to the graves of the missionaries, always with great and profound gratitude. Many missionaries are buried in Vietnam; they gave their lives; they were missionaries "ad vitam". We are deeply moved and feel profound affection when we see the graves of the missionaries. They have left us a living witness to the faith. The influence of the missionaries in Vietnam is profound, not only on the mentality but also on the culture and structure of the Vietnamese Church. Above all, we thank them because through their presence we received the gift of faith.

What relationship still exists today with the Vietnamese martyrs and their spirituality? What significance do they have for the life of the Church today?

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Vietnamese Catholics are generally very proud of their martyrs and grateful for them. This is clearly evident in the Catholic communities in the diaspora, in Europe, the United States, and other parts of the world. When they unite to form a community or establish a chapel, the name is often a reference to the Vietnamese Martyrs Saints, or the community is dedicated to Our Lady of La Vang. We have a deep reverence for the Vietnamese Martyrs, and for this reason, countless shrines dedicated to them can be found throughout the country at their birthplace or the site of their martyrdom. Imagine that: In 200 years of turbulent events and persecutions, there have been an estimated 130,000 Vietnamese Martyrs. There is even the case of an entire village of Martyrs: people who were burned alive simply for believing in Christ. Of this group, 117 were canonized in 1988, and one was beatified in 2000. A new shrine for the Martyrs is currently being completed in Hanoi. The shrine will be finished by the end of 2026 and will be inaugurated next year, with the first meeting of the Bishops' Conference. 2027 marks the 400th anniversary of Alexandre de Rhodes' arrival in Thang Long (present-day Hanoi). The spirituality of the martyrs is fidelity to God. We try to convey to our faithful that while there is no longer persecution like in the past, fidelity remains the same. In modern society, where phenomena such as consumerism and secularization distance us from God, the spirit of the martyrs—faithful devotion—is all the more important.