The diocese of Thai Binh ( la, Dioecesis de Thai Binh) is a

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 let ...

diocese in northern

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. The bishop is François Xavier Nguyên Van Sang, since 1990. On July 25, 2009,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

selected Monsignor Pierre Nguyen Van De to be bishop upon Nguyên Van Sang's retirement. The creation of the diocese in present form was declared November 24, 1960. The diocese covers an area of 2,200 km², and is a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Hanoi. By 2004, the diocese of Thai Binh had about 116,399 believers (4.1% of the population), 42

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

s and 64

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 o ...

es. Sacred Heart Cathedral in

Thai Binh Thai or THAI may refer to: * Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia ** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand ** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand *** Thai script *** Thai (Unicode bloc ...

town has been assigned as the

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

of the

diocese In 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 provinces were administratively associa ...

. In May, 2008, the authorities returned the two-building compound of build in 1936 My Duc seminary to the diocese. The seminary, which now bears the name of the Sacred Heart, provides education for 33

students.''"After 31 years Thai Binh seminary to reopen", Asia News, July 2008.''

References

Thái Bình province

Christian organizations established in 1960 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century Thai Binh, Roman Catholic Diocese of 1960 establishments in North Vietnam {{Vietnam-RC-diocese-stub