TORONTO, Ontario, JULY 8, 2008 (Zenit.org).- A Canadian Catholic media agency has produced a documentary on Cardinal Francis Xavier Nguyen Van Thuân, with unprecedented access to the Vietnamese prelate's personal life.
Salt and Light Television premiered "Road of Hope: The Spiritual Journey of Cardinal Van Thuân" at the International Eucharistic Congress held last month in Quebec.
Archbishop Van Thuân was held captive by the communist government in Vietnam for 13 years, nine of which he spent in solitary confinement. His memoirs reveal stories of Eucharistic love and missionary zeal in prison.
He was released from prison in 1988 and forced into exile. Pope John Paul II appointed him president of the Pontifical Council of Justice and Peace and, during the Jubilee Year 2000, invited him to preach the annual retreat for the Pope and the members of the Roman Curia, asking him to speak of his experience as a "living martyr."
He was made a cardinal in 2001. Cardinal Van Thuân died of cancer a year later in Rome. His beatification cause opened five years after his death.
Producer David Naglieri and the Salt and Light production team worked with Elizabeth Wong, the cardinal's sister, who lives in Canada, and Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.
They were granted unprecedented access to the Van Thuân family's photo albums, videos, letters and personal items of the late cardinal, including the original Vietnamese copy of his book "The Road of Hope," and the items he used to celebrate Mass in prison.
The film features interviews with members of the cardinal's family, his biographer André van Chau, Cardinal Martino and other close acquaintances.
It was produced with a grant to Salt and Light Catholic Television Network from the Knights of Columbus. It sells for $25 Canadian dollars and is about an hour long. It is available in English, and a French version is scheduled for release in August.
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On the Net:
Road of Hope: www.saltandlighttv.org/prog_futureprog_Cardinal%20Van%20Thuan.html
ZE08070809 - 2008-07-08
Permalink: http://www.zenit.org/article-23149?l=english
Film Gives Inside Look at Cardinal Van Thuân
Premiered at Quebec Eucharistic Congress
© Innovative Media, Inc.
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