page_title: Catholic Church in Cambodia
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Catholic Church in Cambodia / History
caption_attribution_description: Catholic Church Chong Khnies, Cambodia
context_page_description: The Catholic Church in Cambodia is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. Throughout the Church's history in Cambodia, the majority of Catholics that have lived in the country consisted of ethnically Vietnamese people; in 2005, around two-thirds of the total number of Catholics in Cambodia were Vietnamese.
context_section_description: The first known Christian mission in Cambodia was undertaken by Gaspar da Cruz, a Portuguese member of the Dominican Order, in 1555–1556. According to his own account, the enterprise was a complete failure; he found the country run by a "Bramene" king and "Bramene" officials, and discovered that "the Bramenes are the most difficult people to convert". He felt that no one would dare to convert without the King's permission, and left the country in disappointment, not having "baptized more than one gentile whom I left in the grave". Despite the French colonization in the 19th century, Christianity made little impact in the country.
caption: The Catholic church in Chong Knies
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