{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive: see [[WP:SDNONE]] --> {{Use British English|date=November 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}} {{Catholic Church by country}} The '''Catholic Church in Myanmar''' (also known as Burma) is part of the worldwide [[Catholic Church]], under the spiritual leadership of the [[Pope]] in [[Rome]]. In 2020, there were approximately 700,000 Catholics in [[Burma]]—approximately 1.29% of the total population.<ref name=CC>[https://www.catholicsandcultures.org/myanmar Catholics and Culture website, retrieved 2023-08-08]</ref>
The country is divided into sixteen dioceses, including three archdioceses. Each of the archdioceses is also headed by a [[Metropolitan bishop|metropolitan]]. There are over 1,000 priests and 2,000 nuns serving across 460 parishes.<ref name=CC />
The representative of the [[Holy See]] to the Catholic Church and the government of Burma is an [[Holy See–Myanmar relations|apostolic nuncio]], though the position has been vacant since 2022.
==Episcopal Conference of Burma==
{{main|Catholic Bishops' Conference of Myanmar}} The membership comprises bishops and auxiliary bishops of the 16 [[List of Roman Catholic dioceses in Burma|dioceses of Myanmar]]. As of 2020, the president of the CBCM is [[Cardinal (Catholic Church)|Cardinal]] [[Charles Maung Bo]].<ref>[http://gcatholic.org/dioceses/conference/068.htm G Catholic website, retrieved 2023-08-28]</ref><ref>[https://fabc.org/myanmar/ FABC website, retrieved 2023-08-28]</ref>
==Dioceses of Myanmar==
===Ecclesiastical Province of Mandalay=== * [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mandalay|Archdiocese of Mandalay]] ** [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Banmaw|Diocese of Banmaw]] ** [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Hakha|Diocese of Hakha]] ** [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Lashio|Diocese of Lashio]] ** [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Myitkyina|Diocese of Myitkyina]] ** [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Kalay|Diocese of Kalay]]
===Ecclesiastical Province of Taunggyi=== * [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Taunggyi|Archdiocese of Taunggyi]] ** [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Kengtung|Diocese of Kengtung]] ** [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Loikaw|Diocese of Loikaw]] ** [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Pekhon|Diocese of Pekhon]] ** [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Taungngu|Diocese of Taungngu]]
===Ecclesiastical Province of Yangon=== * [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Yangon|Archdiocese of Yangon]] ** [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Hpa-an|Diocese of Hpa-an]] ** [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Mawlamyine|Diocese of Mawlamyine]] ** [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Pathein|Diocese of Pathein]] ** [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Pyay|Diocese of Pyay]]
==Ecclesiastical history of Burma==
The ecclesiastical history of [[Christianity in Burma]] begins before its annexation by the British, when it still consisted of the kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Ava |Ava]] and [[Hanthawaddy Kingdom|Pegu]].<ref name=Catholic/>
===Catholic missions===
In 1548 [[St. Francis Xavier]] petitioned Father Rodriguez for missionaries to go to [[Pegu]], but nothing is known as to the outcome of his request.<ref name=Catholic/>
Chief mercenary [[Filipe de Brito e Nicote]] promptly established Goa-backed Portuguese rule at [[Thanlyin]] in 1603. The country was in chaos. Bayinnaung's grandson, King [[Anaukpetlun]], defeated the Portuguese in 1613 and mission work was stopped. During that period, Burmese well-known crown prince and poet [[Natshinnaung]] was converted to [[Catholicism]] and was baptised by a priest from [[Goa]].
In 1699, the [[vicar apostolic]] of Siam and the bishop of [[Meliapur]] (Portuguese India) had a dispute concerning the jurisdiction over Pegu, and [[Charles-Thomas Maillard De Tournon]], ''[[legatus a latere]]'', decided against the vicar apostolic.<ref name=Catholic/>
The actual work of evangelising Ava and Pegu began under the pontificate of [[Innocent XIII]], who, in 1722, sent Father Sigismond de Calchi, a [[Barnabite]], and Father Vittoni, of the same order, to Burma. After many trials and tribulations they succeeded in obtaining permission to preach with full liberty the Gospel of Christ. In 1741, [[Benedict XIV]] definitely established the mission, appointing Father Galizia Vicar Apostolic, and placing the [[Barnabites]] in charge of the work.<ref name=Catholic/> The best-known of the Barnabites was [[Father Sangermano]], who worked in [[Inwa|Ava]] and [[Rangoon]] from 1783 to 1808; his ''A Description of the Burmese Empire'' was first published in 1833.
[[File:Bp. Giovanni Ceretti, OMV.jpg|thumb|Bishop Giovanni Ceretti, OMV]] [[File:Archbishop Giovanni Balma, OMV.jpg|thumb|Archbishop Giovanni Balma, OMV]] [[File:Oblates of the Virgin Mary.gif|thumb|Logo of the Oblates of the Virgin [[Oblates of the Virgin Mary|Mary]]]] The Barnabites having given up the mission, [[Pius VIII]] sent Frederic Cao, a member of the Congregation of Pious Schools, and [[titular Bishop]] of [[Zama (Tunisia)|Zama]] (18 June 1830). [[Gregory XVI]] placed the mission under the [[Oblates of the Virgin Mary|Congregation of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary]] (Congregatio Oblatorum Beatae Mariae Virginis, OMV) of Pinerolo, Italy, by appointing Giovanni Ceretti (+ 29 December 1855), a member of this institute, and titular Bishop of [[Adrianople]] (Edirne), as first vicar apostolic. About this time (the year 1845), Catholics of the two kingdoms numbered 2500. Giovanni Balma (+ 5 April 1881) succeeded as vicar apostolic on 5 September 1848, but the war with the British rendered his labours ineffectual, and the mission was abandoned around 1852.<ref name=Catholic/> [[File:Italian priest, Burma, by John McCosh, 1852.jpg|thumb|Italian priest, Burma, by [[John McCosh]], 1852]] The British had, in reality, begun to assume control of Burma in 1824, but it was not until 20 December 1852 that the [[British East India Company|East India Company]], after a bloody war, annexed the entire kingdom of Pegu, a territory as large as England. Many years later, the [[kingdom of Ava]] was also taken by the British, and with the conquest of [[Rangoon]] the whole of Burma came into the possession of Great Britain. The [[Oblates of the Virgin Mary|Congregation of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary]] having withdrawn from the mission, the vicariate was placed under the control of the vicar apostolic of Siam in 1855. At this date, the kingdoms of Ava and Pegu contained 11 priests and 5320 Catholics.<ref name=Catholic/>
Burma, in the mid-nineteenth century, was bounded on the east by China and Siam, and on the west by Assam and Bengal. Its area was approximately 444,001 km<sup>2</sup>, while that of Great Britain and Ireland is 310,798 km<sup>2</sup>, but it's not densely populated. For some ten years, the mission remained under the administration of the vicar apostolic of Siam, but such a condition could not be indefinitely prolonged without compromising its future. A decree of [[Propaganda Fide]] on 27 November 1806, accordingly divided Burma into three vicariates, named respectively with references to their geographical positions, Northern Burma, Southern Burma, and Eastern Burma. The boundaries then fixed were abrogated on 28 June 1870, by another decree of Propaganda, which constituted these three vicariates as they now are.<ref name=Catholic/>
====Northern Burma Vicariate==== [[File:RC church.JPG|thumb|St Joseph's Catholic Church in Mandalay]] This vicariate, which has been entrusted to the [[Paris Foreign Missions Society|Missions Étrangères of Paris]], was bounded on the north by the Chinese province of [[Yunnan]], on the east by the [[Salween River|River Salween]], on the south by Karenni and Lower Burma, and on the west by Manipur, the Garo Hills, and the independent territories of Tipperah and Assam.<ref name=Catholic/>
In an early 20th-century population of 3,500,000, there were 7,248 Catholics, spiritually served by 22 European clergy of the Missions Étrangères of Paris and 3 native priests with 47 churches or chapels. The vicariate possessed 18 schools with 754 children, a seminary with 22 students, 2 boarding schools with 160 pupils and 6 orphanages with 315 orphans. This is the most dense. The apostolic vicar is at [[Mandalay]]. The stations having one chapel and a resident missionary were [[Pyinmana]], Yamèthin, Magyidaw, Chanthagon, Myokine, Chaung-u, Nabet, [[Shwebo]], Chanthaywa, Monhla, Bhano and [[Maymyo]]. At Mandalay, there were, besides the cathedral, the Tamil church of St. Xavier, a Chinese church and that of St. John's Asylum. The language commonly used in this vicariate is Burmese, but residents ordinarily employ their respective native tongues, which accounts for the Chinese church at Mandalay. This city of 188,000 inhabitants was a bustling centre of traffic between [[Lower Burma]] and the Province of Yunnan; hence the large Chinese element in the population.<ref name=Catholic/>
====Eastern Burma Vicariate==== The vicariate was entrusted to the Milan Seminary of Foreign Missions. Its boundaries, determined by decree on 26 August 1889, were: on the north the Chinese province of Yun-nan; on the east, the [[Mekong]], the subsequent course of which bounds [[Cambodia]] and [[Annam (French protectorate)|Annam]]; on the south, [[Karenni people|Karenni]] and [[Shan people|Shan]]; on the west, the River Salween and part of the course of the [[Sittang River|Sittang]].<ref name=Catholic/>
The vicariate was made up of two quite distinct portions connected almost at right angles by a somewhat narrow strip of territory. The first of these portions comprised Toungoo and the regions lying between the Sittang and the Salween as far as 20 north latitude; from this parallel of latitude, the second portion stretches north to the Tropic of Cancer, bordered on the east and south by China, Annam and Siam, and on the west by the River Salween.<ref name=Catholic/>
The beginnings of the mission go back to 1868 when the Milan Seminary of Foreign Missions sent thither Eugenio Biffi as prefect apostolic, accompanied by Sebastian Carbode, Conti and Rocco Tornatori. The last named of these was the present vicar apostolic, and has resided for decades in the vicariate. There were 10,300 Catholics in this vicariate, the population of which amounted to something like 2,000,000. The vicar apostolic resided in the Leitko Hills and visited 130 villages in the Karenni district, with 10,000 Catholics—almost the whole Catholic population of the vicariate.<ref name=Catholic/>
In the early 20th century, there was a school with 65 children, a convent of the Sisters of Nazareth of Milan, with 40 girls, and in some villages, the beginnings of schools with a few pupils. Toungoo, in the south of the vicariate, with 300 Catholics, had an English school of 130 children of various races, a Native school of 100 children, and a convent of the Sisters of the Reparation of Nazareth of Milan with 70 girls. There were 10 priests. In 1902, there were 140 conversions from paganism and 6 from Protestantism. The stations provided were, besides the residence of the vicar apostolic, Toungoo, Northern Karenni, Yedashe and Karenni.<ref name=Catholic/>
====Southern Burma vicariate==== [[File:Mass in St. Joseph's Church, Mandalay.jpg|alt=Mass in St. Joseph's church, Mandalay|thumb|Mass in St. Joseph's Church in Mandalay]] This vicariate, entrusted to the [[Paris Foreign Missions Society|Missions Étrangères of Paris]], comprised all the territory included in British (Lower) Burma before the annexation of Upper Burma, except the [[province of Arakan]] (attached in 1879 to the Diocese of [[Dacca]]) and the [[Toungoo]] district (assigned to the above Vicariate of Eastern Burma). It is bounded on the east by the Diocese of Dacca, on the north by Eastern Burma, on the west by Siam and on the south by the sea. It extends from the nineteenth to the tenth parallel of north latitude and, beginning from Moulmein, forms a long and rather narrow strip of land shut in between Siam on the one side and the sea on the other.<ref name=Catholic/>
In a population estimated in the early 20th century at 4,000,000, as many as 45,579 Catholics were found distributed among 23 stations, the most important of which in respect of Catholic population being: [[Rangoon]], with 2336 Catholics; [[Moulmein]], 1400; [[Pathein|Bassein]], 1040; Myaung-mya, 4000; Kanaztogon, 4482; Mittagon, 3000; Maryland, 2412; Gyobingauk Tharrawady, 2200. The seat of the vicariate apostolic was at Rangoon. The clergy numbered 49 European priests, and the vicariate had 231 churches and chapels. The schools were conducted by the [[Brothers of the Christian Schools]], the [[Sisters of the Good Shepherd]], of St. Joseph of the Apparition, and of St. Francis Xavier, those known under this last name being natives. The vicariate supported 12 Anglo-native schools with 4501 children, and 65 Burman or [[Tamil language|Tamil]] schools which give instruction to 2200 pupils. The [[Little Sisters of the Poor]], 9 in number, take care of 55 old people at Rangoon, and the Missionaries of Mary's asylum sheltered 100 children, besides which there were 21 orphanages, containing 790 children, under the care of the above-mentioned religious communities. The vicariate was thus further advanced in Christianity than the other two, due to its greater accessibility and the British influence, which developed faster in these regions. In 1845, as has been seen, there were only 2500 Catholics in Burma; sixty years later, there were 59,127.<ref name=Catholic/> The fact that there are still more Catholics in Burma today than in neighbouring [[Catholic Church in Thailand|Thailand]] is likely due to this missionary activity in a British colony; Thailand was never ruled by Europeans.
[[Alexandre Cardot]], [[titular Bishop]] of [[Limyra]], Vicar Apostolic of Southern Burma, born at [[Fresse]], [[Haute-Saône]], France, 9 January 1859, and educated in the seminaries of [[Lunel, Hérault|Lunel]] and [[Vesoul]] and of the Missions Étrangères, began his labours in the mission field in 1879, and in 1893 was appointed coadjutor to [[Paul Ambroise Bigandet|Bishop Bigandet]], his predecessor in the vicariate, who consecrated him at Rangoon (24 June 1893). He succeeded to the vicariate on the death of Bishop Bigandet, 19 March 1894.<ref name=Catholic>{{Catholic|wstitle=Burma|inline=1}}</ref>
The representative of the [[Holy See]] to the Catholic Church and the government of Burma is an [[Holy See–Myanmar relations|apostolic nuncio]], though the position has been vacant since 2022.{{fact|date=March 2026}}
==See also== * [[Christianity in Burma]] * [[Protestants in Burma]] * [[List of saints from Asia]] * {{portal-inline|Myanmar}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.catholicmyanmar.com/index.php Catholic Bishops' Conference of Myanmar] * [http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/data/countryMM.htm The Catholic Church in Burma] by GCatholic.org * [http://mdy.cym.googlepages.com/myanamrbible The Catholic Bible (Burma Version)]
{{Asia topic|Catholic Church in|groupstyle=background-color:gold|titlestyle=background-color:gold}} {{Christianity in Myanmar}} {{Religion in Myanmar}} {{Asia topic|Christianity in}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Catholic Church in Myanmar}} [[Category:Catholic Church in Myanmar| ]] [[Category:Catholic Church by country|Myanmar]] [[Category:Catholic Church in Asia|Myanmar]] [[Category:Religion in Myanmar]]