Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun was born at Bonha-Louang, in Xiangkhouang province, Laos, on 5 April 1944, of Khmu ethnicity; he was baptised in 1952 after Oblate missionaries converted his widowed mother. He studied philosophy and theology at the Voluntas Dei seminary in Edmundston, Canada, and as a deacon survived a 1970 ambush in which his cousin Luc Sy and another catechist were killed — both beatified in 2016 among the Martyrs of Laos. He was ordained a priest on 5 November 1972 in a hurried ceremony in a refugee camp.
He served the Vientiane vicariate for over twenty-five years, including three years in prison (1984–1987) under the communist regime. John Paul II appointed him Vicar Apostolic of Paksé in 2000; he was consecrated on 22 April 2001. He led the bishops of Laos and Cambodia (2009–2014), devised an innovative seminary system sending candidates for years of pastoral work among mountain villages, became apostolic administrator of Vientiane in 2017, and on 28 June 2017 was created a cardinal with the title of San Silvestro in Capite — the first cardinal from Laos. He was Vicar Apostolic of Vientiane from December 2017 until December 2024.
Consequential Quotes
We are in the minority as Catholics, but we understand each other always; whether you are a cardinal or not, you are the same, you have to be simple and really with the people.
Some people think that being a cardinal is an honour. I am an ordinary person.
Major Works & Initiatives
Vicar Apostolic of Vientiane
Led the capital's vicariate through his cardinalate.
Vicar Apostolic of Paksé
Seventeen years in southern Laos.
The seminary innovation
Candidates spend one to three years as mountain-village catechists before ordination.
Controversies
On the record
No significant public controversies reported.