Roman Catholic Diocese of Đà Lạt

The Diocese of Đà Lat (Latin: Dioecesis Dalatensis) is a Latin suffragan diocese of Roman Catholic church in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan of the Archdiocese of Saigon in southern Vietnam, yet depends on the missionary Dicastery for Evangelization.

Diocese of Ðà Lat Dioecesis Dalatensis Giáo phận Ðà Lạt
Catholic
Đa Lạt Cathedral
The coat of arms of Bishop Mạnh
Location
Country	Vietnam
Ecclesiastical province	Sài Gòn
Statistics
Area	9,764 km2 (3,770 sq mi)
Population Total Catholics	(as of 2022) 1,464,100 417,680 (28.5%)
Information
Denomination	Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	24 November 1960
Cathedral	Cathedral of Saint Nicholas of Bari
Patron saint	Our Lady of the Rosary
Current leadership
Pope	Leo XIV
Bishop	Dominic Nguyễn Văn Mạnh
Metropolitan Archbishop	Joseph Nguyễn Năng
Bishops emeritus	Antoine Vũ Huy Chương
Website
giaophandalat.com

Its cathedral episcopal see is Cathedral of Saint Nicholas of Bari, in the southern city of Da Lat, Lâm Đồng Province, Central Highlands.

Its present Bishop is Dominic Nguyễn Văn Mạnh, since September 16, 2019.

Statistics and extent

As per 2014, it pastorally served 368,487 Catholics (27.8% of 1,325,000 total) on 9,764 km² in 87 parishes and 16 missions with 259 priests (143 diocesan, 116 religious), 1,413 lay religious (501 brothers, 912 sisters) and 69 seminarians. Many of its faithful belong to ethnic minorities.

History

• The bishopric was created on November 24, 1960, as Diocese of Đà Lat / Ðàlạt (Tiếng Việt) / 大叻 (正體中文) / Dalaten(sis) (Latin), on territories split off from the then Apostolic Vicariate of Saigon and the then Apostolic Vicariate of Kontum
• On 22 June 1967 it lost territory to establish the Diocese of Ban Mê Thuôt.

Ordinaries

Bishops			Coat of Arms	Period in office	Status	Reference
Bishops of Đà Lat
1	Simon Hoà Nguyễn Văn Hiền			November 24, 1960 – September 05, 1973	Died in office	[1]
2	Barthélémy Nguyễn Sơn Lâm, P.S.S.			January 30, 1975 – March 23, 1994
3	Pierre Nguyễn Văn Nhơn			March 23, 1994 – April 22, 2010	Became Coadjutor bishop of Hanoi
4	Antoine Vũ Huy Chương			March 01, 2011 – September 14, 2019	Resigned
5	Dominic Nguyễn Văn Mạnh			September 14, 2019 – present	Current bishop

Coadjutor Bishops

• Bishop Pierre Nguyễn Văn Nhơn (later Cardinal) (1991.10.11 – 1994.03.23)
• Bishop Dominic Nguyễn Văn Mạnh (2017.04.08 – 2019.09.14)

Other secular clergy who became bishops

• Paul Nguyễn Văn Hòa (priest here until 1968), appointed Bishop of Phan Thiết in 1975 and shortly after Bishop of Nha Trang (later President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Việt Nam)
• Paul Bùi Văn Đọc, appointed Bishop of Mỹ Tho in 1999, later Coadjutor Archbishop of Hồ Chi Minh City, and subsequently succeeded as well as President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Việt Nam
• Joseph Võ Đức Minh, appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Nha Trang in 2005 and subsequently succeeded
• Joseph Nguyễn Đức Cường, appointed Bishop of Thanh Hóa in 2018

See also

• List of Catholic dioceses in Vietnam