Étienne Nguyễn Như Thể

The Most Reverend; Étienne Nguyễn Như Thể
	Archbishop of Huế
Native name	Stêphanô Nguyễn Như Thể
Church	Catholic
Archdiocese	Huế
Province	Huế
Appointed	1 March 1998
Installed	9 April 1998
Term ended	18 August 2012
Predecessor	Philippe Nguyễn Kim Điền PFI
Successor	Francis Xavier Lê Văn Hồng
Previous posts	Apostolic Administrator of Huế (1994–1998); Titular Archbishop of Tipasa in Mauretania (1975–1998); Coadjutor Archbishop of Huế (1975–1983)
Orders
Ordination	6 January 1962; by Jean-Baptiste Urrutia MEP
Consecration	7 September 1975; by Philippe Nguyễn Kim Điền PFI
Personal details
Born	Nguyễn Như Thể; 1 December 1935; Hải Thọ, Quang Tri Province, Annam, French Indochina
Died	16 December 2024 (aged 89); Huế, Vietnam
Motto	Pro mundi vita; (For the life of the world); (Để cho trần gian được sống)

Étienne Nguyễn Như Thể (1 December 1935 – 16 December 2024) was a Vietnamese Catholic prelate who served as the third Archbishop of Huế from 1998 to 2012.

Biography

Nguyễn Như Thể was born on 1 December 1935 in Hải Thọ, Hải Lăng District, Quang Tri Province, Vietnam, into a deeply Catholic family with seven children, originating from Thua Thien Hue Province.^[1]

He entered the minor seminary An Ninh in Huế in 1947 and then the major seminary Saint Joseph's in Saigon in 1955.^[2]

He was ordained a priest on 6 January 1962 by Archbishop Jean-Baptiste Urrutia. After ordination, he served as a professor at the minor seminary Hoan Thiện in Huế until 1968. He then went to France to study at the Catholic Institute of Paris, where he earned a master's degree in dogmatic theology in 1970. Upon his return to Vietnam, he resumed his role as a teacher at the seminary until 1972, when he became its director.^[2]

Thể died on 16 December 2024, at the age of 89.^[3] He was interred at Thiên Thai catholic cemetery.

Episcopal ministry

Following the reunification of Vietnam under the Communist government of Hanoi, on 7 September 1975, Pope Paul VI appointed him Coadjutor Archbishop of Huế and assigned him the titular see of Tipasa in Mauretania. He was consecrated a bishop on the same day by Archbishop Philippe Nguyễn Kim Điền. He assisted Archbishop Philippe Nguyễn Kim Điền for eight years during the difficult post-war period. He resigned on 23 November 1983 for health reasons. On 23 March 1994, he was appointed Apostolic Administrator sede vacante et ad nutum Sanctae Sedis. In November of the same year, he obtained permission from the government to reopen the seminary of Huế, and in 1995, he was elected president of the Committee for the Clergy and Seminarians of the Vietnamese Bishops' Conference, re-elected for a second term in the triennium 1998–2001.^[4]^[5]

On 1 March 1998, Pope John Paul II appointed him Archbishop of Huế. He took possession of the archdiocese on 9 April of the same year. Unable to travel to Rome, he received the pallium on 14 August of the same year from Cardinal Paul Joseph Phạm Đình Tụng. He led the archdiocese for 14 years, retiring on 18 August 2012 due to age limit.^[6]