A priest has just been murdered in a church in Vietnam’s Central Highlands province of Kon Tum, which is considered an area where religious activities are restricted by the authorities in Vietnam.
Father Joseph Tran Ngoc Thanh, of the Dak Mot parish of Kon Tum diocese, was murdered while sitting in the confessional in the church, according to the announcement of the Kon Tum Diocese on January 30.
The murder happened a day earlier, and according to the announcement, Father Thanh, a Dominican, died despite “devoted treatment of the wounds by doctors.”
Notice of Kon Tum Diocese does not indicate how the 41-year-old priest’s murder happens but a Vatican News news says “Father Joseph Tran Ngoc Thanh was killed in a knife attack” by a man.
Also information about the incident, the Catholic page said that “Father Thanh was severely stabbed in his head” while sitting in the fantasy at the end of the year and “was sent to emergency immediately but didn’t get over.”
The Catholic news release also said that two other people were also injured when they barged in to stop the attacker, calling the killing “cruel” and “deliberately pursuing to the end.”
At the farewell ceremony for Father Thanh on January 30, Bishop Aloisio Nguyen Hung Vi, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church of Kon Tum Diocese, said the killing had “shocked” the diocese. Father Thanh’s body was brought back to be buried at the Dominican monastery in Ho Nai, Bien Hoa.
Kon Tum Diocese said the suspect was taken into custody for investigation. Citing local officials, Vatican News, the Catholic news site of the Vatican’s Congregation for Communications, said the attacker was “mentally ill.”
Vietnam’s state-controlled has not reported the murder of Father Thanh. Meanwhile, information on social networks suggests that there is another motive behind this incident.
Facebook Prince Pham Minh Vu said a close person of the priest Thanh said that the attacker “was a normal person, not crazy nor drugged” and “often meet commune police.” A relative of Father Thanh declined to answer when VOA approached to ask for more information with the excuse of “wanting to remain anonymous.”
Catholic newsletter, an independent organization with the Catholic Church, said, “The painful death of the priest (Tran Ngoc Thanh) is full of question and causes a large indignation in the heart of the locations in particular and the people in the Kon Tom area in general.”
It is known that the Sa Loong parish, where the priest of the bar serves, is located in the northwest of the central plateau, the border area has sparsely populated residents with the vast majority of Montagnards and religious activity with many limitations by government.
Priest Thanh, who became his father in 2018, was “puzzled to help Dak Mau” in 2019 and was later taken as a deputy, in charge of many of them in the country, according to information from Facebooker Pham Minh Vu.
It is known that Father Thanh is not the first priest to be attacked here.
More than half a year ago, Father Tran Van Truyen, 70 years old and belonging to Kon Tum Diocese, was also stabbed and seriously injured. According to Catholicism, the authorities arrested the perpetrator for “burning the church, stabbing the priest” but then the investigation went nowhere and the matter was considered “covered.”
The religious activities of the people, especially the Montagnards in the Central Highlands are always harmed by the domestic government and international human rights organizations have criticized Vietnam about this.
The Montagnards Human Rights Organization and the United Nations Committee Against Torture released a report in 2018 stating that ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands belong to a group that Vietnamese authorities target and are treated as “enemies at home.”
The US State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report released in 2019 criticized serious harassment cases by governments in the Central Highlands against religious believers, especially members of the Protestants, Christians, and Hmong people.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
