The (

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

)

Diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

Banmaw Bhamo ( my, ဗန်းမော်မြို့ ''ban: mau mrui.'', also spelt Banmaw; shn, မၢၼ်ႈမူဝ်ႇ; tdd, ᥛᥫᥒᥰ ᥛᥨᥝᥱ; zh, 新街, Hsinkai) is a city in Kachin State in northern Myanmar, south of the s ...

( la, Dioecesis Banmavensis) is located in the

Kachin State Kachin State ( my, ကချင်ပြည်နယ်; Kachin: ), also known by the endonym Kachinland, is the northernmost state of Myanmar. It is bordered by China to the north and east (Tibet and Yunnan, specifically and respectively); Sh ...

in northwestern

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

. It is a suffragan diocese of the

archdiocese of Mandalay Archdiocese of Mandalay is located in the central part of Myanmar. It covers about and comprises the southern part of Sagaing Region, almost the whole Mandalay Region and the eastern part of Magwe Region. The archdiocese has the suffragan dioceses ...

. The diocese was created on August 26, 2006 by splitting off the southern part of the Diocese of Myitkyina. On November 26 the first bishop Raymond Sumlut Gam was ordained, and the St Patrick church was elevated to the cathedral of the diocese by Archbishop

Salvatore Pennacchio Salvatore Pennacchio (born 7 September 1952 in Marano, Italy) is a Catholic archbishop and diplomat of the Holy See, currently president of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. Biography He received his priestly ordination on 18 September ...

Apostolic Nuncio An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international org ...

for Myanmar. The diocese covers an area of 10,373 km². It is subdivided into 10

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...

es. 26,070 of the 450,000 people in the area belong to the Catholic Church. The diocese covers the districts of

Mansi Mansi may refer to: People * Mansi people, an indigenous people living in Tyumen Oblast, Russia ** Mansi language * Giovanni Domenico Mansi (1692–1769), Italian theologian, scholar, historian and archbishop * Kate Mansi, American actress born in ...

Momauk Momauk ( my, မိုးမောက်မြို့)( shn, ဝဵင်းမိူင်းမွၵ်) is a town in the Kachin State in the northernmost part of Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note ...

and Shwegu, all in

. Neighboring dioceses are Myitkyina to the north west and to the east, the archdiocese of Mandalay and the diocese of Taunggyi to the south.

External links

Catholic-hierarchy.orgNews release on the creationNews release on the ordination

Christian organizations established in 2006 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 21st century 2006 establishments in Myanmar {{Asia-RC-diocese-stub