Catholicism in Cambodia

In 1494, Pope Alexander I, in order to prevent disputes between Portugal and Spain over the acquisition of new lands and within the framework of economic policy, Padroado commissioned the Portuguese crown to support missionaries in the Far East and Southeast Asia. The first missionaries of the Catholic Church from Portugal arrived in modern Cambodia in 1515 at the invitation of King Ang Chang I, who received power with the support of the Portuguese. In 1554, a Jesuit traveler and Portuguese writer Fernand Mendish Pinto visited Cambodia. In subsequent years, Portuguese Dominicans who came from Malacca preached in Cambodia. In 1590, King Sata issued a decree on religious freedom, and in 1591 two Dominicans arrived in Cambodia. After the attack of Siam on Cambodia in 1594, King Bar Reachea II turned to Portugal with a request to provide military assistance, and then issued a decree in 1597 authorizing the preaching to European missionaries in Cambodia. Franciscans, Jesuits and Dominicans with Portuguese military arrived from Malacca. Their activities had modest results due to lack of knowledge of the language, local culture and the ongoing conflicts of Cambodia with neighboring countries. For 100 years from 1550 to 1650, Cambodia was part of the archdiocese of Goa .

At the beginning of the 17th century, immigrant Catholics from Vietnam, Japan, and Portugal began to settle in Cambodia. About 400 Portuguese Catholics expelled from Makassar by Dutch Calvinists settled in the vicinity of Phnom Penh. Japanese Catholics settled near Tonle Sap Lake. In the second half of the seventeenth century, about 50 Vietnamese Catholics arrived in Cambodia, settling near Phnom Penh.

In 1659, the Holy See established the Apostolic Vicariate of Siam, whose jurisdiction included the territory of Cambodia. Pierre Lambert de la Motte, member of the Paris Society for Foreign Missions missionary organization, was appointed Bishop of Siam.

In the second half of the 18th century, Vietnam conquered Cochin China , after which European missionaries moved to Cambodia, who founded their mission in Battambang. In 1771, Priest Gervais Levassera founded the first Catholic seminary in Cambodia in Koungguon. In 1768, he translated the catechism into Khmer and wrote the Khmer-Latin dictionary. In 1774, Prambeitiao became the residence of the apostolic vicar Pinot de Bain, who was expelled from Siam.

On August 30, 1850, the Holy See established the Vicariate of Cambodia, which became the first church structure in the country. In the middle of the XIX century, King Ang Duong came to power, who sought economic assistance from France, which concluded a protectorate agreement with Cambodia. In 1865 the number of believers of the Apostolic Vicariate of Cambodia numbered 5 thousand people. In 1964, the Conference of the Catholic Bishops of Laos and Cambodia was created. In 1968, the Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang and Kampong Cham were formed in Cambodia.

In 1917, a theological seminary was opened in Phnom Penh, which trained 20 seminarians. Since 1939, most seminarians studied in Hanoi and in France. Since 1964, seminarians began to study again in Phnom Penh. From 1872 to 1975, the seminary produced 158 priests (147 - Vietnamese, 6 - Chinese, and 5 - Khmer). The first Khmer Catholic priest was ordained in 1957. In the second half of the 20th century, most Catholics in Cambodia were Vietnamese. In 1971, they left the country during the civil war and the number of Catholics was reduced to 7 thousand people. At the beginning of 1975 in Cambodia there were 4 bishops (of whom two were Khmer), 13 priests and 25 nuns and about 10 thousand Catholics lived. During the Khmer Rouge rule, about two thousand and seven local priests were killed, the survivors were sent to forced labor or driven out of the country. All foreign missionaries were expelled from the country, two bishops and four priests were killed. In Phnom Penh, the cathedral was destroyed.

In 1979, the Vietnamese troops expelled the Khmer Rouge, after which the church life began to gradually recover. After the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, there were about 7 thousand Catholics and there was not a single cleric. The authorities of the People’s Republic of Kampuchea carried out an anti-religious policy and prohibited the missionary activities of the church. After Norodom Sihanouk came to power, a new constitution was introduced in 1993, which declared freedom of religion, after which missionaries from various Catholic monastic congregations and orders began to arrive in the country.

March 25, 1994 Cambodia established diplomatic relations with the Vatican. In 1995, a bishop-Khmer was ordained and a seminary was opened in Battambang. In 1997, the Cambodian authorities officially recognized the activities of the Catholic Church.

On May 1, 2015, the Catholic community of Cambodia formally petitioned the Holy See for Bishop Joseph Chma Salas and the other thirty-three Cambodian Catholics to be martyrs.

The centralized governing body of the Catholic Church in the country is the Conference of the Catholic Bishops of Laos and Cambodia. For 2010, there were 46 parishes in the country and two bishops, 97 priests and more than a hundred monastics serve.

There are three church structures in the country:

• Apostolic Vicariate of Phnom Penh
• Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang
• Apostolic Prefecture Kampong Cham

• The Catholic Encyclopedia, T. II, ed. Franciscans, M., 2005, pp. 710-713, ISBN 5-89208-054-4

• Information
• History of the Catholic Church in Cambodia