by Christopher Sharma

For two days, the community celebrated the liturgical festivity and the 19th anniversary of the Cathedral of the Assumption. On each of these days, hundreds of foreigner Catholics visited the church and attended Mass.

Kathmandu (AsiaNews) - For two days, Nepali Catholics filled the Cathedral of the Assumption in Kathmandu to celebrate the feast day of the Assumption and the 19^th anniversary of the church.

Dozens of worshipers, foreign diplomats, priests and nuns attended the special Mass and prayers, which took place on 16 and 18 August, with many forced to stand or sit on the floor, as the church was packed. Indeed, on each of these days, hundreds of foreigners visited the Catholic cathedral and took part in the Mass.

Fr Silas Bogati, the cathedral's parish priest, told the story of the church during his homily. "The Capuchin friars," he said, "founded the first Catholic mission in Nepal in 1715, but only with the creation of the Cathedral of the Assumption in 1995 did we have the first Catholic style church."

After the Mass, the community shared lunch, during which some passages from the Bible were read. After two days, the faithful received sacred images and small statues of Our Lady.

Out of a population of 26.6 million people in Nepal, 0.4 per cent or 150,000 are Christian. Of these, 7,200 are Catholics.

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