About Jean-Baptiste Phạm Minh Mẫn
Jean-Baptiste Phạm Minh Mẫn (5 March 1934 – 22 March 2026) was a Vietnamese Catholic prelate who served as the Archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City from 1998 to 2014. He also previously served as Coadjutor Bishop of Mỹ Tho from 1993 to 1998. He was created a cardinal in 2003 by Pope John Paul II. == Biography == === Early life === Phạm Minh Mẫn was born in Cà Mau, Cochinchina, French Indochina on 5 March 1934. His great-grandfather was an emigrant from Guangdong. He is the eldest son of a family of seven children, the youngest of whom is also a priest of the Diocese of Cần Thơ. One of his sisters settled in Australia, while another sister settled in the United States. When he was five, his first cousin once removed, Blessed Francis Xavier Trương Bửu Diệp, encouraged him to enroll at Institution Taberd in Saigon, then run by the De La Salle Brothers, the next year, which would make him eligible to attend the minor seminary once he turned ten. Diệp also encouraged Mẫn's mother to let him learn Latin prayers and allow him to become an altar boy. === Education === The family immediately followed Diệp's advice. Mẫn later recalled that he would go alone the next morning to serve as an altar boy when Diệp would celebrate Mass.
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