Make your gift today!
Help keep Catholics around the world educated and informed.
Already donated? Log in to stop seeing these donation pop-ups.
Church in Malaysia is vibrant and attracting adult converts, cardinal says
May 19, 2026
» Continue to this story on Vatican News
CWN Editor's Note: In a brief interview with Vatican News, Cardinal Sebastian Francis of Penang, Malaysia, emphasized that the Church there is vibrant.
“The politics are quite stable and the Church is quite vibrant, quite alive, and we have many people inquiring about the Catholic faith as adults,” said Cardinal Francis, who was in Rome for an ad limina visit. “Many of them are requesting baptism as adults. That keeps us on our toes.”
“Even if other parts of Asia may still be experiencing some kind of persecution, we should not fall into a trap of having a ‘minority complex,’ a persecution complex,” he added. “Of course, there are real issues, but we will continue to tell the story of Jesus in Asia.”
Islam is the official religion of the Southeast Asian nation (map). 55% of Malaysia’s 34.9 million people are Muslim, 9% are Christian, 7% are Hindu, and 5% are Buddhist, with 19% adhering to Chinese folk religions and 4% to ethnic religions.
The above note supplements, highlights, or corrects details in the original source (link above). About CWN news coverage.
For all current news, visit our News home page.
All comments are moderated. To lighten our editing burden, only current donors are allowed to Sound Off. If you are a current donor, log in to see the comment form; otherwise please support our work, and Sound Off!
