The first Vietnamese to be awarded the Knighthood of the Grand Cross: Who is he?

(Baonghean.vn) - 'I do everything to make Vietnam proud in the eyes of the world', said Mr. Le Duc Thinh - the first Asian to be awarded the title of Knight of the Grand Cross by the Pope of the Vatican.

Overcoming difficulties, helping people escape poverty

Born into a farming family with 10 children in Thong Nhat (Dong Nai), because of poverty, Le Duc Thinh (christian name Gioan Baotixita) had to give up his dream of becoming a teacher early and go to Saigon to work as a hired hand. To earn money to support his younger siblings' education, Thinh went through many jobs, from garment making, petroleum trading, logging to coffee processing... Thanks to his diligence and willingness to learn, he gradually built a business of processing and exporting coffee.

Being a philanthropist, he used every penny he had to help ethnic minorities, create jobs for poor youth, and help poor children go to school. On average, each year, he organized more than 20 trips to poor rural areas across the country. The amount of money he donated and mobilized from parishioners amounted to hundreds of billions of dong to build charity houses, perform eye and heart surgeries, care for the elderly, the lonely, the disabled, and especially to promote education...

“I want to take care of the poor, especially ethnic minorities who still face many difficulties. Helping them escape poverty is not just about bringing “fish or a fishing rod”, I invest in helping children study, invest in the future, when they grow up they will be the ones to build their homeland, know how to do business well, get rich”, Mr. Thinh confided and said that he has also adopted 30 children, all of whom have now been educated and become moral and holy people.

» The call of the Grand Cross Knight Le Duc Thinh

"I love my people so I try my best"

For more than 20 years of building his career, Mr. Le Duc Thinh has always been involved in social charity activities of the Central Committee of the local Fatherland Front and charitable activities of the Catholic Church. He is the one who helped the Bishop of Xuan Loc Diocese mobilize Catholic dignitaries and compatriots to contribute hundreds of billions of dong to charity work such as: building roads in villages and communes to facilitate people's travel; working with authorities at all levels to build charity houses to help the poor have less difficulty.

Besides, he also helps the poor to have eye surgery, children with heart disease to have heart surgery, cares for the elderly, the lonely, the disabled to help people in difficult circumstances recover from illness, return to normal life. In education, he sets up a scholarship fund, gives scholarships to help poor children go to school. In these fields, he is both the initiator and the proposer, and the person who directly participates in social charity work.

Knight Le Duc Thinh giving gifts to the poor in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Internet

His work not only provided material support but also changed the awareness of Catholics in valuing education and higher education for their children, knowing how to protect their health and how to prevent diseases. Those quiet works contributed to the whole society's care for the poor.

Not only in the field of charity, but also in religious life, he is an example of implementation and encouragement of dignitaries and parishioners to comply with the policies and laws of the Party and the State. At the same time, he actively participates and responds to the emulation movement of the whole people to unite to build a new life in the residential area, living a good life and a good religion.

He is also a person who dares to fight against all manifestations and acts of taking advantage of religion to cause division between the Catholic Church and the State, to divide national solidarity, and religious solidarity by some extremist elements. These actions contribute to creating consensus in the relationship between the government and the Catholic Church at all levels. His actions have created gratitude for the Vietnamese Bishops; and created consensus from the Vietnamese Bishops' Council when the Bishop of Xuan Loc Diocese petitioned the Pope to confer on him the title of Knight of the Grand Cross.

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Although the work he is doing has encountered many difficulties and even misunderstandings, over the years Mr. Thinh has still made efforts to travel across the country to mobilize, persuade, and create meetings to help Catholics in Vietnam become more and more united and accompany the nation.

Mr. Le Duc Thinh at the 9th National Patriotic Emulation Congress:

Mr. Le Duc Thinh expressed: “Our country has gone through centuries of brutal war and territorial division. I love the Vietnamese people, I chose the 7th of the 8 true blessings in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, which is: Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God. I love my people so I try my best, not to be honored and to be honored, but for our future generations.”

Making yeast and salt in life

During the enthronement ceremony, Bishop Nguyen Chu Trinh spoke about the silent contributions of Le Duc Thinh, which was to take care of three mothers: the first mother was the one who gave birth to him; the second mother was the Vietnamese Fatherland that took care of him; and the third mother was the Church that nurtured him with the Word of God. That means he was always imbued with the love of a filial son to his parents; a citizen with responsibility and duty to his country; a sheep fulfilling his duty to God.

More than anyone else, he is the image of a good layman and a good citizen, and that image has contributed to making the Catholic Church shine brighter and brighter in the hearts of the nation. As an ordinary layman, he has stood in the heart of society with concrete, practical actions that bring benefits to the people, sympathizing and sharing with the difficulties of society. He does not stand outside, above society with delicate, flowery words to judge and criticize the issues that both society and the country are concerned about.

With such great contributions, parishioner Le Duc Thinh truly deserves the honor of receiving the title of Grand Knight. Mrs. Nguyen Thi Kim Yen - wife of parishioner Le Duc Thinh was also awarded the title of Lady Knight of the Grand Cross by the Pope, entitled to wear the largest silver badge pinned on her left chest and enjoy all the privileges that come with this title, because she often wholeheartedly helps her husband participate in charitable and charitable activities. The Pope's grace is infallible, so this title is a grace that God has chosen and bestowed specifically on him and his family.

The activities and contributions in recent times, the image of Mr. Le Duc Thinh - a typical Catholic who has been the yeast and salt in life. Those actions have contributed to bringing the religious policy and great national unity of the Party and State into life, as well as continuing to carry out the wishes of Pope Francis in his meeting with the Chairman of the Vietnamese National Assembly Nguyen Sinh Hung in 2014: "Vietnamese Catholics must be good citizens, Vietnamese Catholics must be patriots, Vietnamese Catholics must accompany the nation to build a prosperous and happy country".

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Graphics: Nam Phong
Clip: Canh Nam