Pope Francis last week named a seminary rector as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam.
Seminary rector Joseph Bui Cong Trac of the major seminary of St. Joseph will be the second auxiliary bishop chosen by the Vatican after Louis Nguyen Anh Tuan was appointed in 2017.
Born in 1965 in the parish of Da Lat, Dam Long province, Bishop Trac studied philosophy and theology and was ordained a priest in 1999.
From 2004 to 2010 he studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he obtained his doctorate in Catholic social teaching.
Before becoming rector of the major seminary of St. Joseph, he held various positions, including that of deputy director of the Pontifical Missionary College of St. Paul the Apostle in Rome.
Over 700,000 Catholics live in the archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly the archdiocese of Saigon), equal to 10.4 percent of the city’s population.
It has about 900 priests and 6,000. For years, after the unification of Vietnam in 1975, the communists restricted the activities of the Church and persecuted many Catholics.
