Roman Catholic Diocese of Banmaw

Diocese of Banmaw Dioecesis Banmavensis
Location
Country	Myanmar
Ecclesiastical province	Mandalay
Metropolitan	Mandalay
Statistics
Area	10,373 km2 (4,005 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2012) 341,693 30,829 (9%)
Parishes	13
Information
Denomination	Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	28 August 2006
Cathedral	Cathedral of St Patrick in Banmaw
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Raymond Sumlut Gam
Metropolitan Archbishop	Nicolas Mang Thang

The (Roman Catholic) Diocese of Banmaw (Latin: Dioecesis Banmavensis) is located in the Kachin State in northwestern Myanmar. It is a suffragan diocese of the archdiocese of Mandalay.

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, Apostolic Nuncio for Myanmar.

The diocese covers an area of 10,373 km². It is subdivided into 10 parishes. 26,070 of the 450,000 people in the area belong to the Catholic Church.

The diocese covers the districts of Banmaw, Mansi, Momauk and Shwegu, all in Kachin State. 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.org
• News release on the creation
• News release on the ordination Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine