Archbishop Paul Bui Van Doc of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City passed away in Rome, Italy at the age of 74 during an ad limina visit.

The archbishop was attending Mass at the Basilica of Saint Paul outside the Walls in Rome early Wednesday morning (Vietnam time) when he suffered a stroke and was rushed to hospital, the Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City announced the same day.

Archbishop Paul Doc drew his last breath at the San Camillo Hospital in Rome at 4:00 am on Wednesday.

The 74-year-old Archbishop Paul Bui Van Doc was on an ad limina visit to Vatican with 32 other members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Vietnam, during which they met with Pope Francis to report on the state of their dioceses.

The Archdiocese of Ho Chi Minh City said it was working with authorities in Rome and Vietnam to repatriate the body of the late archbishop for a funeral in the Southeast Asian country.

Paul Bui Van Doc was born in 1944 in the city of Da Lat in Vietnam’s Central Highlands region.

He was ordained in 1970 in Da Lat and served at a local seminary until he was appointed as vicar general at the Diocese of Da Lat in 1995.

Archbishop Paul Doc was appointed Bishop of My Tho by Pope John Paul II in March 1999 and was consecrated on May 20 the same year.

He was named Coadjutor Archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City on September 28, 2013 by Pope Francis.

On March 22, 2014, he succeeded Cardinal Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man as the Archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City upon the latter's resignation due to advanced age.

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