Page 154 - รวมเล่มศาสนาในประเทศไทย ภาคภาษาอังกฤษ
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                          Cardinal is in the second position in the Christianity         There was an established Mission of Siam (also called
               religious hierarchy, after the Pope. His responsibilities include being    the Apostolic Vicariate of the Roman Catholic Church in Siam) in
               the counselor in the administration of all international churches. In   Thailand since 1669. The position of “Bishop” was called “Patriarch”
               the early days, a layman could be in the position of Cardinal, but   back then, because of familiarity of Thai people since Ayutthaya
               since the Church passed the law of 1917 and 1983, it changed so   period. In the beginning all the leaders of the Mission of Siam came
               that only the priests and patriarches are allowed to be appointed   from abroad. The first Thai Bishop was Jacob Chang Kerdsawang, the
               to the rank of the Cardinal. Cardinal's primary duty is electing the   Bishop of Chantaburi being appointed on May 11, 1944. Since year
               new Pope when the see becomes vacant. Cardinal is also eligible   1669, the first Bishop of Mission of Siam was Louis Laneau, being
               to be elected to the position of Pope, and may or may not be in the   appointed as the patriarch on March 25, 1674. The administrative
               administrative position of Bishop.                           structure of the Mission of Siam remained the same until 1965 when it was
                          The  first  Thai  Cardinal  was  Michael  Mechai    adjusted by dividing the lines of command into two Ecclesiastical
               Kitbunchu, Archbishop of Bangkok. He was appointed on January   Provinces: The  Ecclesiastical  Province  of  Bangkok,  and  the
               5, 1983; and the official ceremony of the designation was on   Ecclesiastical Province of Thare-Nonseng. Thus, both Bangkok
               February 2, 1983 at the Saint Peter's Basilica, in the State of   and Thare-Nonseng has moved to the higher level of Archdiocese
               the Vatican City, Rome. At present, the second Thai Cardinal is   Metropolitan -- each of which headed by an archbishop, and under
               Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij, Archbishop of Bangkok    each of the two Archdioceses, there are Suffragan Dioceses. (Today,
               (Thailand). He was appointed on January 4, 2014, and was officially    the church in Thailand is administrated by 10 dioceses, including
               designated on the 14  of February of the same year.          the two archdioceses.)
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                            The present Pope is Pope Francis, whose original           Today, the Roman Catholic Church in Thailand is
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               name is Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He is the 266  Pope, after St. Peter.   governed by the "Catholic Bishop’s Conference of Thailand (CBCT).
               He has been in the position since March 13, 2013, and is the first   There are 10 Bishop of each diocese, and 369,636 Christians in
               Pope from Latin America. He is of Argentinian nationality and is   Thailand. (According to the survey of all Christianity denominations.)
               the first Pope who is not European in over 1,300 years.










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