The Vicariate Apostolic of Cambodia was erected on 30 August 1850. Since 1860 it was responsible for the provinces
Phsar Dek,
Châu Đốc and
Sóc Trăng of
lower Cambodia, now part of
Vietnam. In 1924, it was renamed as Vicariate Apostolic of Phnom Penh. On 20 September 1955, the vicariate became responsible for all of Cambodia. In 1968, the vicariate was split into three parts, with the
Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang responsible for the north west and the
Apostolic Prefecture of Kompong Cham for the north east of the country. During the rule of the
Khmer Rouge, all religious activities were forbidden, and many Catholics were persecuted, especially priests and other ordinaries. Also many Vietnamese Catholics, the majority of Catholics in Cambodia, were either executed or expelled from the country. Most churches were also destroyed. The number of Catholics in the area of the vicariate fell from about 30,000 to less than 10,000. In 1989, the new constitution of Cambodia allowed freedom of religion once again, although the preaching of Christianity was still forbidden by the
Council of Ministers. In March 1990, the Cambodian government gave its approval for a group of Catholics to celebrate
Easter Sunday, the first public worship in Cambodia in 15 years. On 24 December 2009 the French priest
Olivier Schmitthaeusler,
M.E.P. was named
Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Phnom-Penh and
Titular Bishop of Catabum Castra. He succeeded to bishop
Destombes on 1 October 2010. On 1 May 2015 the Cambodian Catholic Church opened an official diocesan inquiry for the martyrs in
Tangkok,
Kampong Thom Province, where Bishop
Joseph Chhmar Salas died during the
Khmer Rouge regime in 1977. The inquiry looks after the presumed martyrdom of at least 34 persons executed or let to die from April 1975 to 1978. ==Bishops==