This year marks a particularly significant dual anniversary: the 23rd anniversary of the death of Cardinal François-Xavier Nguyên Van Thuân (16th September 2002) and the 50th of the period in which, after his arrest (15 August 1975), he wrote 1001 thoughts in prison addressed to all the baptized, later collected in the volume “The Way of Hope”. His memory lives on as that of a faithful pastor who knew how to transform prison into a space of prayer, forgiveness and offering: a man who showed how no chain can suffocate hope and that the light of the Gospel overcomes all darkness.