By Chainarong Monthienvichienchai
CAMBODIA – The Holy See announced the appointment of Msgr Pierre Suon Hangly, Apostolic Prefect of Kompong Cham, as the new Coadjutor Vicar Apostolic of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The appointment by Pope Leo XIV was made public through a communiqué from the Apostolic Nunciature in Thailand on Jun 28.
In the announcement, Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Peter B. Wells, who represents the Vatican in Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos, invited the faithful to join in prayer for Bishop-elect Pierre Suon Hangly and for the people entrusted to his pastoral care.
Msgr Suon Hangly, 53, becomes the third Cambodian priest in history to hold such a high-ranking leadership role in the Catholic Church in Cambodia, following in the footsteps of Msgr Paul Tep Im Sotha, former Apostolic Prefect of Battambang, and Bishop Joseph Chhmar Salas, former Apostolic Vicar of Phnom Penh.
Both were martyred during the Khmer Rouge regime (1975–1979).
Bishop Joseph Chhmar Salas remains a significant figure in Cambodian Church history. Ordained as Coadjutor Bishop of Phnom Penh on Apr 14, 1975, just three days before the capital fell to the Khmer Rouge, he and Msgr Paul Tep Im Sotha both perished amid the regime’s brutal persecution of religious communities.
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