How Catholics are caught in the Cambodia-Thailand conflict

Neither Cambodia nor its neighbor Thailand is strongly associated with the Catholic Church.

Nevertheless, Catholics on both sides of the border are caught in the latest flare-up of the Cambodia-Thailand conflict.

Who are the Catholics of Cambodia and Thailand? What is currently happening to them? And what are their prospects for the future?

The Pillar takes a look.

What’s the context?

Cambodia is a Southeast Asian nation of around 18 million people that borders Laos, Vietnam, and, of course, Thailand. The population is 97% Buddhist, mainly following the Theravada school, which predates the larger but newer Mahayana school. Buddhism is the state religion.

A 2019 census found that just 0.3% of Cambodians are Christian. Estimates of the number of Catholics vary widely, from around 20,000 to 75,000.

The Catholic presence in Cambodia dates back to the 16th century, when the Dominican missionary Fr. Gaspar da Cruz arrived from Portugal. He made little headway with the local population, as did his successors, even when Cambodia was a French protectorate from 1863 to 1953. The first Cambodian priest was only ordained in 1957.

Catholics were driven underground when the communist Khmer Rouge seized power in 1975, led by dictator Pol Pot. Many died in labor camps, including Bishop Joseph Chhmar Salas, the Vicar Apostolic of Phnom Penh, whose beatification cause opened in 2015. Others, such as the priest Paul Tep Im Sotha, were summarily executed.

That Cambodia is still something of a mission territory is indicated by the absence of any dioceses. There are only three jurisdictions: the Apostolic Vicariate of Phnom Penh, the Apostolic Prefecture of Kampong Cham, and the Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang.

The Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang, which runs along the Thai border, covers around 30,000 square miles — a territory roughly the size of Scotland — but serves fewer than 6,000 Catholics.

Thailand, a country of around 71 million people bordering Laos, Malaysia, and Myanmar as well as Cambodia, is approximately 93% Buddhist, largely also of the Theravada school. Christianity accounts for little more than 1% of the population.

There are fewer than 400,000 Catholics, who can also trace their history back to a 16th-century mission, led in this case by a French Franciscan called Bonferre. He was no more successful than Cruz in Cambodia. But later missionaries persevered, despite often sharp