Holy See–Myanmar relations refers to bilateral relations between the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

, which is sovereign over the

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

, and

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 Wells explai ...

, also known as Burma. As of August 2017, Archbishop

Paul Tschang In-Nam Paul Tschang In-Nam (born 30 October 1949) is a Korean prelate of the Catholic Church who has worked in the diplomatic service of the Holy See since 1985, with the title of archbishop and the rank of apostolic nuncio since 2002. He is the firs ...

is the first

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 ...

to Myanmar, while San Lwin is Myanmar's ambassador to the Holy See.

History

From 1990 to 2017, the Holy See had

Apostolic Delegate 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 o ...

s who were representatives of the Holy See to the Catholics of Myanmar, but not formal representatives to the government. In March 2017 the

Parliament of Myanmar The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw ( my, ပြည်ထောင်စု လွှတ်တော် lit. Assembly of the Union) is the ''de jure'' national-level bicameral legislature of Myanmar (officially known as the ''Republic of the Union of My ...

approved a proposal by the Holy See in February of the same year to establish diplomatic relations. Myanmar and the Holy See announced in May 2017 that they will establish formal diplomatic relations. The announcement was made after a meeting between

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

and

Aung San Suu Kyi Aung San Suu Kyi (; ; born 19 June 1945) is a Burmese politician, diplomat, author, and a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as State Counsellor of Myanmar (equivalent to a prime minister) and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2 ...

at the Vatican. This was the second visit of the Myanmar leader to Pope Francis, after her first one in 2013. Myanmar thus became the 183rd country to establish diplomatic relations with the Holy See.

Papal visit

Pope Francis became the first pontiff to visit Myanmar in November 2017, after being personally invited by Myanmar President

Htin Kyaw Htin Kyaw ( my, ထင်ကျော်, or ; born 20 July 1946) is a Burmese politician, writer and scholar who served as the ninth president of Myanmar from 30 March 2016 to 21 March 2018. He was the first elected president to hold the off ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holy See-Myanmar relations

History

Papal visit

See also

References