Alphonsus Nguyễn Hữu Long (; born 25 January 1953) is a Vietnamese Catholic prelate who has served as Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Vinh since 2019. A member of the Society of the Priests of Saint Sulpice, he was previously Auxiliary Bishop of Hưng Hóa from 2013 to 2018 and chaired the Committee for Evangelization of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Vietnam for three consecutive terms from 2013 to 2022.
Born in Hanoi and raised in Da Nang after his family migrated south in 1954, Nguyễn Hữu Long studied at the minor and major seminaries in Da Nang before completing compulsory labour at the Phú Ninh irrigation works from 1978 to 1982. Ordained a priest in 1990, he studied canon law at the Institut Catholique de Paris and joined the Sulpicians in 2003. He taught at the Major Seminary of Huế and became its rector in 2011.
Appointed a bishop by Pope Francis in 2013, Nguyễn Hữu Long spent five years ministering to ethnic-minority Catholic communities in the mountainous Hưng Hóa diocese, gaining a reputation for simplicity and closeness to the poor. In 2018 he was transferred to lead the Diocese of Vinh, one of Vietnam's largest, where his tenure has been marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, a major pastoral construction project, and public controversies—including the suspension and subsequent canonical trial of activist priest , a disputed ordination in the Philippines, and a parish land dispute. His approach to church–state relations, characterised by dialogue with communist authorities, has drawn both support within Vietnam and criticism from overseas Vietnamese Catholics.
Early life and education
Nguyễn Hữu Long was born on 25 January 1953 in Làng Rùa village, Thanh Oai District, Hanoi, then part of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. He was one of several children of Alphonsus Nguyễn Chí Phúc, who worked away from home for long periods, and Teresa Phạm Thị Hảo (1925–2012), who raised the children. Three of the children entered religious life: Nguyễn Hữu Long himself; his elder brother Joseph Nguyễn Trí Dũng, who became a priest of the Diocese of Da Nang and served as vice-chairman of Vietnam's Committee for Catholic Solidarity; and his youngest brother Louis Nguyễn Phú Kim, a priest in the Archdiocese of Regina, Canada.
Following the partition of Vietnam in 1954, the family migrated south and settled in Da Nang. Nguyễn Hữu Long later described his upbringing as ordinary but devout; the family prayed the rosary together each evening and he was involved in parish youth groups. Inspired by his elder brother's path to the priesthood and encouraged by his parents, he entered the Minor Seminary of St. John in Da Nang in 1965, part of the first intake of that institution.
He completed minor seminary in 1972 and moved to the Major Seminary of Hòa Bình in Da Nang for philosophy (1972–1975), then studied theology at the Bishop's Residence in Da Nang until 1978, after the fall of Saigon had ended the Vietnam War.
Labour camp and early ministry
From 1978 to 1982, Nguyễn Hữu Long performed compulsory labour at the Phú Ninh irrigation project in Quảng Nam Province, one of about two dozen seminarians assigned there. He later described the work—carrying earth and stone, digging irrigation channels—as closer to "penal labour" than "glorious service". To support himself he took up barbering, a trade he continued throughout his seminary years, along with dyeing cloth and rolling cigarettes. His parents, who had moved to a new economic zone in the Central Highlands, wrote urging him to persevere in his vocation despite the hardship.
He was ordained a priest on 29 December 1990 for the Diocese of Da Nang. He chose as his priestly motto a verse from 2 Corinthians: "The love of Christ impels us" (Caritas Christi urget nos). He served as assistant priest at Tam Kỳ parish (1990–1994) before being sent to France to study canon law at the Institut Catholique de Paris, where he earned a master's degree.
Returning to Vietnam in 1999, he served briefly as administrator of Hà Lam parish (2000–2001) and then as pastor of Trà Kiệu parish in Da Nang (2001–2003). During his time at Trà Kiệu, a dispute arose in June 2001 when local authorities demanded the parish surrender its Thạnh Quang chapel and two plots of land. Nguyễn Hữu Long, together with Bishop Paul Tịnh Nguyễn Bình Tĩnh of Da Nang, refused the demand. More than two hundred parishioners signed a letter affirming their intention to retain the property; Nguyễn Hữu Long told authorities that the disposition of church land was a matter for the parish community and the bishops' conference, not for the pastor alone.
Sulpician and seminary rector
In 2003 Nguyễn Hữu Long joined the Society of the Priests of Saint Sulpice (P.S.S.), a society of apostolic life dedicated to seminary formation. From 2004 to 2005 he undertook Sulpician training in Canada and completed further studies in canon law in Paris.
From 2005 to 2011 he served at the Major Seminary of Huế as spiritual director and professor of canon law, church history, and catechetics. In 2011 he was appointed rector of the seminary. During his rectorship, in April 2012, he was designated by Archbishop of Huế to serve on the welcoming committee for a delegation from the Diocese of Rome investigating the cause for beatification of Cardinal François-Xavier Nguyễn Văn Thuận.
Auxiliary Bishop of Hưng Hóa (2013–2018)
Appointment and consecration
On 15 June 2013, Pope Francis appointed Nguyễn Hữu Long Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Hưng Hóa and Titular Bishop of Gummi in Byzacena. The appointment was announced simultaneously with that of as Auxiliary Bishop of Vinh. At the time Nguyễn Hữu Long was 60 years old and had been rector of the Huế major seminary for two years.
He was consecrated on 6 September 2013 at Sơn Lộc Cathedral in Sơn Tây by Bishop , the diocesan bishop of Hưng Hóa, with Bishops of Da Nang and , Auxiliary Bishop of Ho Chi Minh City, as co-consecrators. The consecration was attended by Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli, the Holy See's non-resident representative to Vietnam; Archbishop Peter Nguyễn Văn Nhơn of Hanoi, president of the bishops' conference; and bishops from more than twenty Vietnamese dioceses.
Nguyễn Hữu Long chose an unusual episcopal motto: "Mang vào mình mùi chiên" ("Take on the smell of the sheep"), taken not from scripture but from Pope Francis's Chrism Mass homily delivered earlier that year, in which the pope urged priests to be "shepherds living with the smell of the sheep". He later explained the motto as signifying a pastor's closeness to his people: "to take on their joys and sorrows as my own".
Pastoral work with ethnic minorities
The Diocese of Hưng Hóa, covering much of northwestern Vietnam, is the country's largest diocese by area and one of its poorest. At the time of Nguyễn Hữu Long's appointment it had roughly 200,000 Catholics—many of them Hmong and other ethnic minorities—served by only about sixty active priests across eleven provinces. While the diocesan bishop handled administration, Nguyễn Hữu Long spent most of his time travelling to remote communities, often journeying on foot or by motorcycle across mountain terrain to reach villages accessible only by dirt track.
Images of the bishop—wading through fast-flowing streams with sacks of bread on his back to deliver to flood-stricken villages, blowing soap bubbles for Hmong children, washing dishes and making tea himself during parish visits—circulated widely in Vietnamese Catholic media and earned him a reputation for simplicity. A seminarian who frequently accompanied him observed: "I have known the bishop for over forty years, since he was a seminarian. In all that time he has not changed—in character, in manner. Everywhere he goes he brings sweets and fruit as gifts for the children; he is warm and welcoming to everyone he meets."
His pastoral strategy among the Hmong focused on training lay leaders who could teach catechism and lead prayer in the absence of resident priests. During the summers the diocese sent religious sisters and seminarians to minority areas to teach literacy in the Hmong language, basic hygiene, and life skills, and to discourage early marriage.
Committee for Evangelization
At the October 2013 plenary assembly of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Vietnam, Nguyễn Hữu Long was elected chair of the Committee for Evangelization, a position he held for three consecutive terms (2013–2016, 2016–2019, 2019–2022). In this role he repeatedly drew attention to what he described as the stagnation of Catholic growth in Vietnam: the Catholic proportion of the population, he noted, had remained essentially unchanged for more than four decades, with new baptisms coming mostly through marriage rather than through active evangelization. "The work of mission in Vietnam is not bearing fruit," he told Vatican News in 2019, adding that Vietnamese Catholics tended to "keep the faith for themselves" rather than share it.
In October 2019, during the Extraordinary Missionary Month proclaimed by Pope Francis to mark the centenary of Maximum Illud, his committee organized theological conferences on mission, translated and distributed missionary documents, and urged the establishment of Pontifical Mission Societies in Vietnam. He also participated in the October 2019 conference marking 400 years of the development of the Vietnamese Latin script in the history of evangelization, held in Ho Chi Minh City.
Other activities
In 2014, as one of 94 new missionary bishops from 49 countries, Nguyễn Hữu Long participated in a formation programme in Rome and was received in audience by Pope Francis. He took part in the Vietnamese bishops' ad limina visit to Rome in March 2018, where the bishops met with Pope Francis and the dicasteries of the Roman Curia.
During his years in Hưng Hóa, he repeatedly met with provincial authorities in Điện Biên, Lai Châu, Lào Cai, and Yên Bái to negotiate formal registration of Catholic places of worship and the establishment of new parishes. In December 2016, while celebrating Christmas Mass for Hmong Catholics in Phù Yên District, Sơn La Province, he was reportedly threatened with expulsion by plainclothes police for having conducted the liturgy without prior permission.
Bishop of Vinh (2019–present)
Appointment and installation
On 22 December 2018, Pope Francis erected the new Diocese of Hà Tĩnh from the southern portion of the Diocese of Vinh and transferred Nguyễn Hữu Long from Hưng Hóa to become Bishop of Vinh, replacing , who became the first bishop of Hà Tĩnh. The reconfigured Diocese of Vinh, covering Nghệ An Province, retained about 282,000 Catholics among 3.1 million people—one of Vietnam's largest dioceses by Catholic population, with 108 parishes and 179 priests.
Speaking to Vatican News after the announcement, Nguyễn Hữu Long said he felt "joy, sadness, worry, and peace"—joy at the trust shown by the Pope, sadness at leaving the Hưng Hóa communities he had served for five years, and worry at the scale of the task, but ultimately peace in accepting God's will. Asked about his pastoral approach, he said he would follow the direction set by his predecessors while updating it for new circumstances, and would govern according to the principle of "collegiality and shared responsibility".