The funeral of the catholic priest and journalist Truong Ba Can was held July 13 at the Viet Nam Catholic Martyr Saints’ Cathedral in Ho Chi Minh City.

The funeral of respected priest and journalist Truong Ba Can was held in HCMC on July 13 (Photo: SGGP)

Father Can, born in the central coastal province of Ha Tinh in 1930, was deputy president of the Committee for Solidarity of HCMC Catholics and Editor-in-Chief of Cong Giao va Dan Toc (Catholicism and the Nation) newspaper until his death on July 10.

He was also a member of the Presidium of the Committee for Solidarity of Vietnamese Catholics and former Deputy Chairman of the HCMC Fatherland Front.

 “Father Can always … contributed to people’s happiness wholeheartedly,” Priest Phan Khac Tu, deputy president and general secretary of the Committee for Solidarity of HCMC Catholics, said in his eulogy at the funeral.

During his 50 years as a priest, Father Can researched and wrote extensively about Catholicism in Vietnam. His book, History of Vietnamese Catholics, is considered a definitive work on the history of Catholicism in the country, Priest Tu said.

Later the same day, his coffin was buried at Chau Nam parish cemetery in Hoc Mon District.