Le Thanh Hai, Politburo member of the Communist Party of Vietnam and Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, led a municipal delegation to pay tribute to the late Catholic priest and journalist.

In respect to the departed, Fr. Phan Khac Tu, Deputy President and General Secretary of the Committee for Solidarity of HCMC Catholics, said in a funeral oration: “With deep patriotism, Father Can stated that Catholics are also Vietnamese citizens and always join hands with the nation to contribute to people’s happiness”.

Father Phero Truong Ba Can, whose real name was Tran Ba Cuong, died on July 10 at the age of 79. He was born in Huong Khe district, in the central coastal province of Ha Tinh.

He was ordained as a priest on June 28, 1958 at the Notre Dame de Paris. Father Can was a member of the Presidium of the Committee for Solidarity of Vietnamese Catholics and former Deputy Chairman of the HCMC Fatherland Front for one term and member of the organisation for eight terms.

Until his death, Father Can was Deputy President of the Committee for Solidarity of HCMC Catholics and Editor-in-Chief of the Catholicism and the Nation Weekly.

He was awarded the Independence Order, third class, the Order for Great National Unity and the “For the Vietnamese Press Cause” Medal.