by Paolo Affatato
Loikaw – In the early days, only a handful of people came to the cathedral. Then, slowly, word spread through the villages and among families scattered by the war: the priest had returned, pastoral life was resuming, and the community could gather once again. Today, Fr Marko Phe Bya, Vicar General of the Diocese of Loikaw and parish priest of Christ the King Cathedral, reports that around 500 faithful attend Mass every Sunday.
“When people realized that the Church’s pastoral life was beating once again in this place, the centre of the diocese, they returned. It is extraordinary: people have an unshakeable faith,” he told Fides on the sidelines of the International Forum of Catholic Action , held in Rome in recent days.
The story of this revival is intertwined with that of the civil war that has ravaged Myanmar since the military coup of February 2021. In the eastern state of Kayah, also known as Karenni State, fighting and airstrikes have forced entire communities to flee their homes.
The Church in Loikaw has been directly affected by the conflict. In November 2023, the military occupied the Christ the King Cathedral compound and the diocesan pastoral centre, forcing Bishop Celso Ba Shwe, priests, religious sisters and the faithful to leave. The cathedral was subsequently used as a military base.
Fr Marko Phe Bya recalls that period as a painful interruption to the life of the Church.
“In 2023, we were all forced to leave our pastoral centre because the soldiers drove us out. All the priests, the bishop and the sisters were forced to leave,” he said.
For a long time, the cathedral had no parish priest, while the pastoral centre remained occupied. Fr Marko returned in September 2025.
“The church was somewhat run-down and had sustained some damage, but nothing too serious. We had taken the parish registers, baptismal books and other documents with us to another location to keep them safe,” he explained.
Returning, however, did not mean that the war was over. The city still appeared largely deserted, while most Catholics remained scattered across the region, having fled the fighting.
“When I returned, at most around a hundred people had come back,” he recalled.
In the months that followed, however, the community gradually began to come together again. Today, the priest reports, around 500 people attend Mass at the cathedral every Sunday. At major celebrations, such as the feast of Christ the King, the cathedral’s patronal feast and the culmination of the liturgical year, attendance can reach 1,000 or even 2,000.
In the context of Loikaw, these figures reflect the revival of pastoral activities and ecclesial life. They bear witness to the desire to recover a shared home, to remain a community, to pray together and to prevent the displacement caused by war from severing the bonds that unite people.
“People come to church to cry, to pray and to seek comfort,” Fr Marko explained. “There are so many difficulties in a situation like this: there is not enough food, there is no security, and there are airstrikes. We preach the need to remain steadfast in faith, because God is our hope. People come to church to nourish themselves with spiritual food, which is just as important as material sustenance.”
The Diocese of Loikaw covers Kayah State, a predominantly mountainous region in eastern Myanmar that is considered one of the country’s strongholds of Catholicism. The diocese was established by St John Paul II in 1989, in a territory evangelised from the nineteenth century onwards by missionaries of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions .
Available Church statistics indicate that the diocese has around 90,000 Catholics and a network of approximately 40 parishes spread across the city and surrounding villages. It is a Church deeply rooted in the local community, but one now struggling with mass displacement and the difficulty of keeping communities united after they have been forced to leave their homes.
According to the Vicar General, more than 300,000 people have been displaced across the diocese and are living in hundreds of camps. Among them are approximately 40,000 Catholics, who remain in makeshift settlements, remote villages or the forests. Numerous parishes have been left empty or closed because their populations have fled.
The humanitarian crisis, therefore, extends far beyond the city of Loikaw itself.
Among the displaced, the Church is striving to maintain its presence. Priests do not simply wait for the faithful to return to their churches; they go out to meet them in camps and villages.
“Together with the other priests, we care for them. We visit them and celebrate Mass in the camps outside the city of Loikaw, where there are many small parish communities. The priests accompany the displaced and remain with them. They put up small tents or build huts to serve as churches and chapels. It is a sign of hope when priests go with their people. Whenever our people flee, we accompany them,” he said.
Pastoral ministry is thus closely intertwined with humanitarian assistance. The Church is seeking donors to help families obtain food, shelter, education and healthcare. For those who have lost their homes and livelihoods, as well as the ability to cultivate their land, even daily survival has become uncertain.
“People are returning to the city, but there is no work. They are trying to find employment, whatever work they can get,” Fr Marko explained.
In the villages, many people are trying to grow rice, but fighting can abruptly disrupt their daily lives.
“When clashes break out and bombs fall, you have to flee,” he said.
Material hardship is compounded by fear. The priest explained that travelling around the region requires caution and that Church workers themselves face the risk of arrest and suspicion.
Fr Marko Phe Bya reported that two priests had been arrested in recent months and subsequently released, illustrating how fragile the conditions are in which the Church is attempting to continue its educational and pastoral mission.
He also recalled the case of Sister Benedetta, a religious of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Saints Bartolomea Capitanio and Vincenza Gerosa, commonly known as the Sisters of Maria Bambina, who was working to provide education for children in a conflict-affected village. She was arrested five months ago on suspicion of having links with the National Unity Government , the opposition government, and remains in prison.
The detention of the religious sister has become an occasion for prayer and solidarity within the community. Fr Marko said that other Catholics are also being held in the prison and that Sister Benedetta prays with them.
Whenever he is able to visit her, including on occasions when she receives medical attention, he tries to encourage her and sometimes manages to bring her the Eucharist.
“People’s faith remains strong, even because of the difficulties they face. The more difficulties we encounter, the more we need to encourage one another and the more we are called to pray. This is our faith,” he said.
The resilience of Loikaw’s Catholics, after years of war and displacement, stems precisely from their shared faith and mutual support.
“People endure because of our faith and because they help one another,” the priest said.
The Church community is striving to ensure that families are not left alone. Priests visit displaced communities, bishops encourage the faithful, and prayer sustains those who are exhausted, hungry and afraid.
This experience also sheds light on the words spoken by Bishop Celso Ba Shwe during the years of exile, which Fr Marko recalls and repeats:
“The Church is not a building, but the people who gather in the name of Christ. Our community is made up of people, not buildings. The people are the ‘living stones’.”
“Even when churches are empty or inaccessible, the community continues to exist wherever the faithful pray together, celebrate the Eucharist and care for one another,” he observed.
The hope for lasting peace, however, remains fragile. The priest said that the population is exhausted by a war that continues to take its heaviest toll on innocent people, especially women and children.
“If one side wants to defeat the other and no one speaks about dialogue, how can dialogue begin? To stop the conflict, both sides would have to accept that neither can win by annihilating the other,” he said.
After years of violence, the desire for a negotiated settlement is growing, according to the priest. Through its preaching and prayer, the Catholic Church is also calling for dialogue and reconciliation.
“People long for peace, dialogue and reconciliation. We hope that something may change in the near future, although it does not seem likely to happen very soon,” he said.
“We cannot make the decisions ourselves, but we pray every day for peace, asking the Lord to enlighten the minds and hearts of those who make decisions, so that reconciliation may become possible. The future is in God’s hands.”
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