Vincent Nguyễn Văn Bản

Vincent Nguyễn Văn Bản (born November 25, 1956) is a Vietnamese Catholic bishop, serving as the Bishop of Hải Phòng since March 19, 2022.

Early life and education
Vincent Nguyễn Văn Bản was born on November 25, 1956 in Tuy Hoa in Phu Yen Province, the seventh of nine children in a devout Catholic family originally from Hai Duong Province who fled south at the end of the First Indochina War. In 1968, he began his religious studies at the minor seminary of Làng Sông in Quy Nhơn. In 1975, he entered the major seminary of the Diocesan Training Center of the Diocese of Quy Nhơn, where he studied philosophy and theology until 1988. After completing his studies, he provided pastoral service at his home parish in Tuy Hoa.

Priesthood
He was ordained a priest on September 16, 1993 by bishop Paul Huỳnh Đông Các and was incardinated in the Diocese of Quy Nhơn. After his ordination, he served as vicar of Tuy Hoa parish until 1996, when he was sent to France to study at the Institut Catholique de Paris, where he obtained a master's degree in theology in 2005. Upon returning to Vietnam, he was appointed head of seminarian formation for the diocese and professor at the major seminary of Nha Trang. He was also appointed as an expert during the XII Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops held in October 2008.

Episcopate
On February 21, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him bishop of Ban Mê Thuột. He received episcopal consecration on May 12, 2009, from archbishop Étienne Nguyễn Như Thể. Within the Vietnamese Episcopal Conference, he served as chairman of the committee for sacred music for three consecutive terms from 2010 to 2019. In 2019, he was elected chairman of the Biblical Commission and re-elected for a second term for 2022–2025. During his ministry in Ban Mê Thuột, he encouraged local clergy to communicate in the ethnic languages of the local populations and introduced seminary courses in three local ethnic languages: Ede (Ê Đê), Mnong (M'Nông), and Stieng (S’tiêng). Over the years, he witnessed an increase in the number of faithful, largely due to conversions, and a growth in vocations among the youth, increasing the number of new priests, religious men, and women. He contributed to the construction of 101 new churches in the region. On March 19, 2022, Pope Francis appointed him bishop of Hai Phong. He took possession of the diocese on March 31, 2022.

Episcopal succession
The episcopal succession is:
 * Patriarch Eliya XII Denha
 * Patriarch Yohannan VIII Hormizd
 * Bishop Isaie Jesu-Yab-Jean Guriel
 * Archbishop Augustin Hindi
 * Patriarch Joseph VI Audo
 * Patriarch Eliya Abulyonan
 * Patriarch Yousef VI Emmanuel II Thomas
 * Bishop François David
 * Archbishop Antonin-Fernand Drapier, O.P.
 * Archbishop Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục
 * Archbishop Philippe Nguyễn Kim Điền, P.F.I.
 * Archbishop Étienne Nguyễn Như Thể
 * Bishop Vincent Nguyễn Văn Bản