Roman Catholicism in Thailand

Archdiocese of Bangkok Archidioecesis Bangkokensis อัครสังฆมณฑลกรุงเทพฯ
Assumption Cathedral, Bangkok
Location
Country	Thailand
Ecclesiastical province	Archdiocese of Bangkok
Metropolitan	Bangkok
Coordinates	13°25′56″N 100°18′19″E / 13.4323°N 100.3054°E / 13.4323; 100.3054
Statistics
Area	18,831 km2 (7,271 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2006) 12,759,00 292,000  (.46%)
Parishes	51
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	December 18, 1965
Cathedral	Assumption Cathedral,Bangkok
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Archbishop	Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovitvanit Archbishop of Bangkok
Website
catholic.or.th

Coordinates: 13°25′56″N 100°18′19″E / 13.4323°N 100.3054°E / 13.4323; 100.3054

Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovitvanit

The Catholic Church in Thailand is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome.

By the information of Catholic Hierarchy Catalog, there are 292,000 Catholics in Thailand, which represents 0.46% of the total population. There are 10 dioceses with 436 parishes and 662 priests.

The first historical record of an attempt to introduce Christianity to Thailand is owed to John Peter Maffei who stated that about 1550 a French Franciscan, Bonferre, hearing of the great kingdom of the Peguans and the Siamese in the East, went on a Portuguese ship from Goa to Cosme (Peguan), where for three years he preached the Gospel, but without any result.

In 1552 St. Francis Xavier, writing from Sancian to his friend Diego Pereira, expressed his desire to go to Siam, but his death on 2 December 1552, prevented him. In 1553 several Portuguese ships landed in Siam, and at the request of the king three hundred Portuguese soldiers entered his service. In the following year two Dominicans, Fathers Hieronymus of the Cross and Sebastian de Cantù, joined them as chaplains. In a short time they established three parishes at Ayutthaya with some fifteen hundred converted Siamese. Both missionaries, however, were murdered by the pagans (1569), and were replaced by Fathers Lopez Cardoso, John Madeira, Alphonsus Ximenes, Louis Fonseca (martyred in 1600), and John Maldonatus (d. 1598).