A Cardinal for Hanoi

As the small, rotund figure climbed the 15 steps toward him, Pope Paul VI last week signaled his pleasure. He rose from the papal throne in the Vatican's audience hall, where he had just bestowed the three-cornered biretta upon 19 newly named members of the College of Cardinals. Then Paul stretched out his arms in welcome to the 20th candidate: Joseph Marie Cardinal Trinnhu-Khue, 76, Archbishop of Hanoi.

Moments later, a beaming Trin, the first Vietnamese prince of the church, was greeted by an enthusiastic round of applause. His appearance had lifted the anonymity from one of two men elevated to cardinal's rank in pectore (in the breast, meaning secretly) when the other 19 nominations were announced (TIME, May 10).

A Borrowed Cape. So closely was the secret kept that Cardinal Trin himself only suspected the honor awaiting him in Rome. Said the cardinal: "When I left Hanoi, I was asked by government officials why I was going to Rome. I told them truthfully that I did not know, although I vaguely asked myself, 'Could I possibly be called to be a cardinal?' " Permission to leave had come so belatedly that Trin alone still wore his purple episcopal cassock, topped with a borrowed scarlet cape and sash.

The elevation provided a glimpse of the fragile process of rapprochement between the Vatican and Viet Nam, where 2.7 million Catholics are clustered largely in the South. Many fled there following the 1954 Communist takeover in Hanoi, then formed a hard core of resistance in the ensuing war for South Viet Nam. A period of accommodation with the Communists has now begun. Saigon's archbishop, Nguyen van Binh, 65, has promised to reshuffle "the structure and personnel of Catholic dioceses" to eliminate anti-Communist dissidents, and "to teach Catholics their duties to the country."

In the North, the church has long been forced to pursue a modus vivendi with the Communists. As Vicar Apostolic of Hanoi since 1950, and archbishop since 1960, Trin presided over much of that accommodation. The job has its uncertainties. Said he after his investiture: "I hope that they believe me when I tell them that I did not know the reason for my call to Rome."

Still Hanoi seems to be saying it is content for the present to deal gently with the church. Though one Vatican spokesman noted that "there is a long road ahead before we can achieve diplomatic recognition and an exchange of envoys," it is generally agreed that the elevation of Hanoi's archbishop to cardinal is tantamount to Vatican recognition of a united and Communist-controlled Viet Nam.

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