Pakse, Laos, Jun 29, 2017 / 14:45 pm
When selecting new cardinals, Pope Francis has often sought to go to the "peripheries" of the Church, which is particularly notable in his elevation of Cardinal Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun of Paksé.
Cardinal Ling's local Church is an apostolic vicariate in Laos, a communist country of southeast Asia where Catholics make up only about one percent of the population. He is the first cardinal to hail from the nation.
The newly-minted cardinal's resume includes a number of issues of keen interest for Francis, including evangelization, pastoral aid for the faithful where the Church is persecuted, a use of dialogue in diplomatic relations, and a concern for the environment.
Born in Laos in 1944, Cardinal Ling attend a seminary of the Voluntas Dei Institute (associated with the Oblates of Mary Immaculate) in Canada, and was ordained a priest of the Vicariate Apostolic of Vientiane in 1972, three years before the communist takeover of the country.