Paul Joseph Phạm Đình Tụng

Paul Joseph Phạm Đình Tụng (15 June 1919 – 22 February 2009) was a Vietnamese cardinal.

Ecclesiastical career He was ordained to the priesthood on 6 June 1949. He was pastor of Hàm Long Parish in Hanoi, North Vietnam, from 1950 to 1955. Afterwards, he served as Superior of St. John Minor Seminary in Hanoi, from 1955 to 1963. The seminary was permanently closed under orders of the state authority in 1960. He was created bishop of Bắc Ninh in 1963.

Since nearly the very beginning of his role as bishop there, he was under "virtual house arrest", and was unable to carry out his duties to the nearly 100 parishes under his jurisdiction. Therefore, in an effort to minister to the people of his diocese, Tụng compiled, in lục bát, a Vietnamese poetic form in stanzas of six to eight words, the life of Jesus and the Gospels. This also included the Catholic theology, the Ten Commandments, the Precepts of the Church, and the seven sacraments. On 13 April 1994, Tụng was made archbishop there. He was created a Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria Regina Pacis in Ostia Mare by John Paul II during the Consistory of 26 November 1994. He died on 22 February 2009 at the age of 89.