Cardinal Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man dies at 92

Parish churches across the region tolled mourning bells for 10 minutes at 8:00 pm the same day to bid farewell to the cardinal.

Funeral arrangements will be announced later by the Archdiocese.

Cardinal Man’s health had declined in recent years due to old age and several underlying illnesses.

In the days leading up to the 2026 Lunar New Year (Tet), he was admitted to Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City in critical condition, where doctors and nurses devoted themselves to his treatment and care.

Following doctors’ recommendations, he was discharged at 3:15 pm on Sunday and returned to the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center, where he had lived since his retirement, before passing away about two hours later at the age of 92.

Cardinal Man was born on March 5, 1934 in Ca Mau Province, located in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, according to Cong Giao va Dan Toc (Catholicism and Nation) weekly newspaper.

He studied at Cu Lao Gieng Minor Seminary in An Giang, another Mekong Delta province, from 1944 to 1946 before continuing his formation at Phnom Penh Minor Seminary in Cambodia from 1946 to 1954.

He then studied philosophy at Saint Joseph Major Seminary in Saigon from 1954 to 1956.

After teaching in Bac Lieu, a province that was merged into Ca Mau following a national administrative restructuring in July 2025, he returned in 1961 to undertake four years of theological studies.

He was ordained a priest on May 25, 1965 at Can Tho Cathedral and later taught at A Thanh Quy Minor Seminary in Can Tho, which is now part of Vinh Long Province.

From 1968 to 1971, he studied administration and education at Loyola University in the United States.

After returning to Vietnam, he resumed teaching at A Thanh Quy Minor Seminary and was appointed its rector in 1974.

In 1988, he became the founding rector of Thanh Quy Major Seminary in Can Tho.

Pope John Paul II appointed him auxiliary bishop of the My Tho Diocese in March 1993, and he was consecrated as bishop in August that year.

In March 1998, the Pope appointed him archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City, and on October 21, 2003, he was elevated to cardinal in Rome.

He also served as a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments and the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

After retiring in 2014, Cardinal Man continued to live a simple and humble life at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center.