Holy See and Malaysia establish diplomatic relations

(July 27, 2011) The Holy See and Malaysia have established diplomatic relations.
A communiqué of the Vatican said on Wednesday, that the Holy See will have an Apostolic Nunciature and Malaysia will have an embassy. Malaysia, the 179^th country to establish diplomatic relations with the Holy See, has a multi-cultural population of more than 28 million people. Islam is professed by some sixty per cent of the population and is the State religion. Buddhists form 19% of the population, Christians some 9%, Hindus - 6%, Chinese folk religion 2.6 %, and animist 2.4%.
Independent since 1957, Malaysia has gone through a long period of rapid development. The Catholic Church has been present in the country since 1511, with the arrival of the first Portuguese missionaries in the city of Malacca, where St. Francis Xavier followed in 1545. Today, the Church has 9 ecclesiastical districts. Catholics number a little over 850.000, around 3% of the population. The Catholic Church is very active in evangelization and the pastoral care of family and youth. It is also present in the fields of education and charitable institutions, and promotes various initiatives for social harmony and reconciliation among different religious communities.