Roman Catholic Diocese of Da Lat

Roman Catholic Diocese of Da Lat

The Diocese of Ðà Lat (Latin: Dioecesis Dalatensis) is a Roman Catholic diocese of Vietnam, headquartered in the southern city of Da Lat, Lam Dong Province.

The diocese had been a vacant see (sede vacante) due to the appointment of the previous Bishop, His Excellency, the Most Reverend Archbishop Pierre Nguyên Van Nhon, as Coadjutor Archbishop- auxiliary, or assistant, bishop with the right of automatic succession- of the Archdiocese of Hanoi (he is now the Archbishop there). On Tuesday, March 1, 2011, the Holy Father, His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, named His Excellency, the Most Reverend Bishop Antoine Vu Huy Chuong, 66, who had until then been the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hung Hoa (which is a suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Hanoi), as Bishop of the Da Lat Diocese. More than 20% of the one million people living in the Diocese of Da Lat are Roman Catholics. Many of them belong to ethnic minorities. The Da Lat Diocese has 326,120 Catholics served by 181 priests and 1,093 religious.

The diocese covers an area of 10,172 km² of southern Vietnam, and is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Thành-Phô Hô Chí Minh. It was created on November 24, 1960. In 1967 part of it was split off and became part of the diocese of Ban Mê Thuôt.

Bishops of Da Lat

  • Bishop Simon Hoa Nguyên-van Hien (24 Nov 1960 - 5 Sep 1973)
  • Bishop Barthélémy Nguyên Son Lâm, P.S.S. (30 Jan 1975 - 23 Mar 1994)
  • Bishop Pierre Nguyên Van Nhon (23 Mar 1994 - 22 Apr 2010); named Coadjutor Archbishop of Hanoi, Vietnam
  • Bishop Antoine Vu Huy Chuong (1 Mar 2011 - present); had been Bishop of Hung Hoa, Vietnam

External links