Adoun Hongsaphong new apostolic vicar in Vientiane
Pope Francis appointed a priest from Pakse to lead the small Catholic community of the Laotian capital, taking up the legacy of Card Ling Mangkhanekhoun who turned 80 last April.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – A few days before Christmas, the Catholic Church in Laos is celebrating its new bishop.
Pope Francis today announced the appointment of Fr Anthony Adoun Hongsaphong, a priest with the Apostolic Vicariate of Pakse, as the new Apostolic Vicar of Vientiane, the capital of the country.
The pontiff chose him to take up the legacy of Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun, the first cardinal from this very small Catholic community (60,000 members). A cardinal since 2017, he turned 80 last April.
Fr Hongsaphong taught at the National Major Seminary in Thakhek and oversaw pastoral care in the 11 missionary stations of the Apostolic Vicariate of Pakse, a city in southern Laos where he was born on 4 April 1964.
A priest since 1994, he completed his studies at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland and at the Angelicum in Rome. After a few years of pastoral experience in Thailand, he was rector of the Pastor Bonus Preparatory Seminary in Pakse from 2005 to 2014.
In Vientiane he will lead his ministry in an overwhelming Buddhist region, home to 2.5 million people, where Catholics are just 0.6 per cent of the population.
The life of the local Catholic community is centred on the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, built in 1929 by the Missions Étrangères de Paris before the communist regime banned foreign missionaries from the country.
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13/06/2022 17:42
14/09/2021 17:01
