Joseph Ngô Quang Kiệt

Joseph Ngô Quang Kiệt is the Archbishop Emeritus of Hanoi where he served as archbishop from 2005 to 2010. In 1993, he studied at the Institut Catholique de Paris, France. Before becoming archbishop, he served as apostolic administrator of Hanoi.

Resignation

On 22 April 2010, 72-year-old Pierre Nguyễn Văn Nhơn, Bishop of Đà Lạt, was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Hà Nội by Pope Benedict XVI. There was well-documented evidence of tension between the Church and the government over the old apostolic delegation building dispute in 2008. The prime minister had promised to return the building, but after some protests in his Archdiocese at Thái Hà church and the delegate building, which ended in violence due to "pro-government gangs" intervening, the building was ultimately not returned and the government pinned Kiệt as the culprit for the incident. It was revealed that in a meeting with several unnamed foreign diplomats that the mayor of Hà Nội had asked for Kiệt to be removed as archbishop. However, Kiệt denied these rumors publicly and that there was "no pressure from any side" but he reportedly admitted to suffering from stress and insomnia. Pope Benedict XVI accepted his resignation on 13 May 2010, at age 57, and Nhơn succeeded as Archbishop of Hà Nội.