When Pope Francis established the Diocese of Mindat in Myanmar at the end of January, the local Church of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus was raised to the status of a cathedral. Just 12 days later, bombs struck the building, leaving it unusable.
The bombing in Myanmar’s impoverished Chin State was reported Feb. 10 by Agenzia Fides, the Pontifical Mission Societies’ information service. An accompanying photograph showed a hole ripped in the church’s roof, surrounded by rubble and masonry.
Bombs have repeatedly hit Catholic churches in Myanmar since the Southeast Asian country plunged into civil war in 2021.
Why do the bombs keep falling? What exactly happened in the latest incident? And is there any prospect of the strikes ending?
Why do church bombings keep happening?
Myanmar, also known as Burma, is a predominantly Buddhist country with around 55 million people that borders Thailand, Laos, China, India, and Bangladesh.
The country has suffered from cycles of violence since it gained independence from Britain in 1948. Myanmar has 135 officially recognized ethnic groups, some of which have sought to secede from what they view as a state dominated by the Bamar people (or Burmans), the largest group.
The latest outbreak of violence was triggered by a military coup on Feb. 1, 2021, which saw the detention of Myanmar’s democratically elected leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
The army sought to crush a resulting wave of mass protests, causing the reported deaths of hundreds of pro-democracy demonstrators. The country’s Catholic minority — numbering around 750,000 — was caught up in the violence. A picture of a nun kneeling, begging soldiers not to attack protesters, became one of the conflict’s most enduring images.
The protests and the repressive response gave new impetus to the country’s insurgent groups, some of which have fought state forces for decades.
Fast-forward to 2025, and Myanmar is a patchwork of territories controlled by different armed groups. Faced with this exceedingly complex battlefield, the ruling military junta has relied heavily on airstrikes. It reportedly conducted 2,155 such strikes in the six months between June and December 2024 alone.
Bombs have repeatedly fallen on Catholic churches in the past four years. Notable targets include the Sacred Heart Church in Doukhu, Kayah State, in May 2021, the cathedral complex in Loikaw, Kayah State, in November 2023, and two churches in the village of Lungtak, Chin State, in May 2024.
Damage has also been inflicted by other means. Four Catholics were killed in May 2021, when artillery shells fell on Sacred Heart Church in Kayanthayar, Kayah State. Soldiers reportedly set fire to the ancient Church of the Assumption in Chan Thar, Sagaing Region, in January 2023. And in late 2024, a drone attack severely damaged St. Michael’s Church in Mon Hla, Sagaing Region, where Myanmar’s most prominent Catholic, Cardinal Charles Bo, was born in 1948.
Is the Catholic minority simply a collateral victim of a destructive civil war or are soldiers deliberately targeting churches?
Benedict Rogers, a British human rights activist and author of three books on Myanmar, believes the evidence points to a deliberate strategy.
“The bombing of a church in Chin State is just the latest in a litany of attacks by the military against hundreds of places of worship. There is no doubt that churches are deliberately targeted, for several reasons,” he told The Pillar Feb. 10.
“The regime is fuelled by an extreme Burman, Buddhist nationalist ideology which makes it particularly intolerant of ethnic and religious minorities.”
“Churches are a symbol of the faith and identity of communities whom the regime is particularly repressing. In addition, churches are also vital community centers, often providing health, education, and other humanitarian services to the people, and so are targeted for that reason. The military also sees them as being sympathetic to the resistance.”
He added: “Churches are not the only targets, of course — the military has attacked mosques and even Buddhist monasteries among Buddhists who oppose it, as well as hospitals, schools, and homes.”
What just happened in Mindat diocese?
Late last month, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis had created a new diocese in Myanmar. He established the Diocese of Mindat using territory previously belonging to the Diocese of Hakha, in the western Chin State, which borders Bangladesh.
According to the Vatican, the new diocese, centered on the town of Mindat, serves 14,394 Catholics out of a total population of 358,866. The Mindat parish of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus was designated as the cathedral church.
Violence has swirled around Mindat since the outbreak of the civil war. The Battle of Mindat, one of the first major military clashes after the coup, took place in April 2021. The skirmish pitted the ruling junta against the Chinland Defense Force, a rebel group formed just days earlier.
Since then, fighting has ebbed and flowed in the region. The Chinland Defense Force recently declared the area “liberated,” reported Fides.
On Feb. 6, several bombs struck Mindat’s newly named cathedral, damaging stained-glass windows, as well as the roof. Fortunately, Catholics had already evacuated the site, so there were no casualties. Local priest Fr. Paulinus described the attack as “a wound in our heart,” but said the community would repair the damage.
Is there any prospect of peace?
In brief, there is slim chance of guns falling silent in Myanmar in the near future.
Resolving the conflict is not considered a high priority within the international community, despite repeated appeals for reconciliation efforts from Pope Francis.
No side in the civil war appears able to achieve a decisive victory. According to one estimate, the military junta securely controls less than a quarter of the country, suggesting the civil war could rage for years to come.
Meanwhile, Myanmar is also suffering devastating economic and humanitarian crises, as well as disasters such as floods and landslides.
Faced with such bleak prospects, Catholics in Myanmar and around the world are turning to prayer. On Feb. 1, the coup’s fourth anniversary, the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need organized a day for prayer for victims of the “forgotten conflict.”
Cardinal Bo, meanwhile, has urged Catholics to seek the intercession of the Virgin Mary.
“In a world often shrouded in turmoil and conflict, we turn our eyes to Mary, the Mother of Peace,” he said at an event ahead of the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.
“Her unwavering acceptance invites us to cultivate inner peace and to become ambassadors of peace in our troubled world.”
