Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Hanoi

The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Hanoi (Archidioecesis Metropolitae Hanoiensis, Tổng giáo phận đô thành Hà Nội, Archidiocèse Metropolitain d'Hanoï) is a Catholic metropolitan archdiocese of Vietnam. It is one of the earliest in the history of the Catholic Church in Vietnam.

The creation of the diocese in present form was declared 24 November 1960. It covers an area of 7,000 km2 and has been led by Archbishop Joseph Vũ Văn Thiên since November 2018.

Suffragans
The suffragan dioceses are:
 * Diocese of Bắc Ninh
 * Diocese of Bùi Chu
 * Diocese of Hải Phòng
 * Diocese of Thái Bình
 * Diocese of Lạng Sơn & Cao Bằng
 * Diocese of Hưng Hóa
 * Diocese of Phát Diệm
 * Diocese of Thanh Hóa
 * Diocese of Vinh
 * Diocese of Hà Tĩnh

Cathedral
Saint Joseph Cathedral in Hanoi has been assigned as the cathedral of the archdiocese. The cathedral was built in 1886 in neo-Gothic style. It holds several masses throughout the day and is usually crowded on weekends and religious holidays. Christmas holiday in 2004 attracted more than 4,000 visitors to the cathedral.

Current state
By 2004, the Archdiocese of Hanoi had about 282,886 believers (5.3% of the population), 59 priests and 132 parishes.

The Archdiocese of Hanoi is a "sister" diocese of the Diocese of Orange County (USA) since 2008.

The young Catholics from the Archdiocese of Hanoi and Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City formed in 2006 an organization for helping children in rural and underdeveloped areas of Vietnam.

Among the three major churches of Hanoi are Saint Joseph Cathedral, Cua Bac Church and Hàm Long Church.

In November 2006, the Cua Bac Catholic Church in Hanoi became the venue of joint worship service of the Vietnamese Catholics and Protestants with participation of the United States president George W. Bush, who was on an official visit to Vietnam. Cua Bac Church (Northern Gate Church) has regular sermons and services in the English language and is often visited by expats and tourists.

In December 2007, thousands of Vietnamese Catholics marched in procession to the former apostolic nunciature in Hanoi (confiscated by the communist government in 1959) and prayed there twice aiming to return the property to the local Church. Despite their initial promise to return the nunciature building to the Catholic community, the authorities changed their position in September 2008 and decided to convert the building into a library and create a public park around it. The protests of the Catholic community were not taken into account.

It is purported that Archbishop Emeritus Ngo Quang Kiet was pressured to retire by government officials. Archbishop Kiet denied this, saying his retirement was due to stress and insomnia. His retirement was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI on 10 May 2010 and he was succeeded by Coadjutor Archbishop Nguyên Van Nhon.

On 17 November 2018, 58-year-old Joseph Vũ Văn Thiên, Bishop of Hải Phòng, was appointed Archbishop of Hanoi by Pope Francis. Pope Francis accepted Cardinal Nguyễn Văn Nhơn's resignation on 17 November 2018.

Archbishops of Hanoi (1960-present)

 * Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Western Tonking (1696-1923)


 * Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Hanoi (1925-1935)


 * Coadjutor Archbishops of Hanoi (1963-2010)


 * Auxiliary Bishops of Hanoi (1981-2019)

Other secular clergy who became bishops

 * Paul Joseph Phạm Đình Tụng, appointed Bishop of Bắc Ninh in 1963 and later appointed Apostolic Administrator and Archbishop here
 * Pierre Nguyễn Huy Mai (priest here, 1941-1954), appointed Bishop of Ban Mê Thuột in 1967
 * Dominique Nguyễn Văn Lãng (priest here, 1951-1954), appointed Bishop of Xuân Lộc in 1974
 * Joseph Marie Nguyễn Tùng Cương, appointed Bishop of Hải Phòng in 1979
 * Joseph Trịnh Chính Trực (priest here until 1954), appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Ban Mê Thuột in 1981 and later succeeded
 * Joseph Nguyễn Văn Yến, appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Phát Diệm in 1988 and later succeeded
 * Joseph Ðặng Ðức Ngân, appointed Bishop of Lạng Sơn and Cao Bằng in 2007, later Bishop of Ðà Nẵng and Coadjutor Archbishop of Huế