The Jubilee Year of Our Lady of La Vang in Vietnam

Thousands of faithful gathered at the Shrine of Our Lady of La Vang (Central Vietnam) on August 14 and 15, 2018, to celebrate the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Four bishops and hundreds of priests concelebrated the different masses organized during this annual celebration.

Bishop Pierre Nguyen Van De, bishop of Thai Bingh, told the assembled faithful that the Virgin Mary and their own ancestors had lived the divine mercy and put it into action. The martyrs of Vietnam have borne witness to God's mercy with courage, at the cost of their own lives, so that we may have eternal life, he argued. Nearly 300,000 Catholics suffered and were killed because of their faith between the 17^th and 19^th centuries. Among them, 117 martyrs were canonized by Pope Saint John Paul II on June 19, 1988.

This national shrine is one of the most important Catholic sites in Vietnam, and pilgrims have been flocking to it throughout the 2018 Jubilee Year, launched to commemorate the 30^th anniversary of the Martyrs of Vietnam’s canonization. It will close on November 24th, the martyrs’ feast day. We must not keep eternal life for ourselves, but we must bring it to others, because it is the mission entrusted to us by Christ, Bishop De said in his homily.

The Catholic Church in Vietnam has seven million members out of a population of 95 million.

Foreign Missions of Paris