A recently built Catholic church in Myanmar’s Christian-majority Chin State has been destroyed in an airstrike by the military junta, the latest in a wave of attacks targeting places of worship amid the country’s grinding civil war.

 

The Church of Christ the King, located in the town of Falam and part of the Diocese of Hakha, was bombed on 8 April as government forces continued air assaults following their loss of ground to local resistance fighters. Though the church’s walls remain standing, the roof and interior were left in ruins, according to local reports.

 

Consecrated only in November 2023, the church had replaced a small chapel that served the Catholic community for over 75 years. Built with significant local effort and sacrifice, it had become a vital spiritual centre for the town’s roughly 1,000 Catholics.

 

“There is great sadness now in the community,” a source told Fides News, “but also the desire and determination to rebuild.”

 

Falam has seen fierce clashes over the past nine months between Myanmar’s army and the Chinland Defence Force (CDF), a local militia resisting military rule since the 2021 coup. After losing control of the city to the CDF, the junta resorted to aerial bombardments — a tactic increasingly used across the country.

 

This is not the first time churches have been targeted. In February, another airstrike damaged the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Mindat, set to become the cathedral of a newly established diocese announced by Pope Francis earlier this year.

 

According to the Chin Human Rights Organization, at least 107 religious buildings — including 67 churches — have been destroyed by military airstrikes in Chin State alone since the conflict began.

 

The destruction of the Church of Christ the King is a stark reminder of the heavy toll Myanmar’s war continues to exact on religious minorities, civilian life, and cultural heritage — often without distinction or warning.

 

-2025-04-12

 

I'm no catholic, but I still find this sad.