Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur

In 1786, the first church was established in Penang.[3] This led to the formation of Vicariate of Siam and Kedah, which expanded towards the entire Malayan Peninsula and Singapore. The Vicariate of Malaya was formed in 1841. The Church of Visitation was founded in 1848 in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan. This is the first known church to be erected in central Malaya. A historical moment was made in 1888, when the Diocese of Malacca was formed. The first church in Kuala Lumpur was dedicated to St John the evangelist in 1883, and would be later known as St. John's Cathedral, the Mother Church of Kuala Lumpur.[4]

In 1955, the Diocese of Malacca became a Metropolitan Archdiocese, with the newly formed Diocese of Penang and Diocese of Kuala Lumpur as its suffragan sees. Bishop Dominic Vendargon was appointed as the first Bishop of Kuala Lumpur, and was ordained in the same year. In 1972, the Diocese of Kuala Lumpur was elevated into an Archdiocese, with the suffragan dioceses of Penang and Malacca-Johor.

In 1983, Archbishop Dominic Vendargon retired. Bishop Anthony Soter Fernandez of Penang was appointed as the 2nd Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur. When he retired in 2003, he was succeeded by Archbishop Murphy Pakiam who was then the Auxiliary Bishop. On 3 July 2014, the Vatican appointed Most Rev Julian Leow as the 4th Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, after the resignation of Archbishop Emeritus Murphy Pakiam was accepted by Pope Francis in December 2013.[5][6] During the consistory on 19 November 2016, Pope Francis installed Archbishop Emeritus Anthony Soter Fernandez as a cardinal, making him the first Bishop from Malaysia to be appointed.[7]

Below are statistics of the archdiocese.[8]

• Area of territory - 63,763 km²
• Approximate total population - 10,421,600
• Estimate Catholic population - 134,000
• Churches - 36
• Chapels & Mass Centres - 49
• Clergy - Bishops: 3, Diocesan Priests: 49, Religious Priests: 10, Deacon: 1
• Religious Sisters - 102
• Religious Brothers - 17
• Educational Institutions - Nursing College: 1, Secondary Schools: 15, Primary Schools: 32, Kindergartens: 21
• Charitable and Social Institutions - Hospital: 1, Home of Aged: 2, Counselling Centres: 3

Archbishop Julian Leow

Cardinal Anthony Soter Fernandez

Archbishop Emeritus Murphy Pakiam

• Dominic Vendargon (1955–1983) (died 2005)
• Anthony Soter Cardinal Fernandez (1983–2003) (died 2020)
• Murphy Nicholas Xavier Pakiam (2003–2013)
• Julian Leow Beng Kim (2014-current)

• Msgr. Dr. Clarence Devadass
• Msgr. Daniel Lim
• Msgr. James Gnanapiragasam
• Msgr. Patrick Boudville
• Msgr. Stanislaus Soosaimariam
• Rev. Alan Pereira
• Rev. Albert Arockiasamy
• Rev. Albert Tan, SJ
• Rev. Alvin Ho, SJ
• Rev. Amalanathan Adakalapalasam
• Rev. Andrew Kooi
• Rev. Andrew Manickam, OFM Cap.
• Rev. Andrew Wong, CDD
• Rev. Anthony Chan, CDD
• Rev. Anthony Naden
• Rev. Augustine Lee
• Rev. Bernard Arputhasamy, SJ
• Rev. Bonaventure Rayappan
• Rev. Christopher Loh, OCD
• Rev. Christopher Soosaipilai
• Rev. Clement Lim
• Rev. David Arulanatham
• Rev. Dionysius Matthews
• Rev. Dominic Tan
• Rev. Edwin Peter
• Rev. Eugene Benedict
• Rev. Ferdinand Magimay
• Rev. Frederick Joseph
• Rev. George Harrison
• Rev. George Packiasamy
• Rev. Gerard Theraviam
• Rev. Gregory Chan
• Rev. Leonard Lexson
• Rev. James Gabriel
• Rev. Jean-Claude Lourdes
• Rev. Jestus Pereira
• Rev. Joachim Tan
• Rev. Kenneth Gopal, OCD
• Rev. Lawrence Andrew, SJ
• Rev. Lawrence Ng, CDD
• Rev. Mitchel Joseph
• Rev. Mark Tee, SG
• Rev. Martin Then, CDD
• Rev. Michael Chua
• Rev. Michael Dass
• Rev. Nicholas Ho Jeng Kin, OCD
• Rev. Norris Seenivasan, SJ
• Rev. V.A. Michael
• Rev. Paul Cheong, OFM Cap.
• Rev. Paulino Miranda
• Rev. Peter Anthoney
• Rev. Philip Chua
• Rev. Philip Tay, OCD
• Rev. Raymond Pereira
• Rev. Richard Anthonysamy, SJ
• Rev. Simon Labrooy
• Rev. Simon Lau
• Rev. Surain Durai Raj
• Rev. Terrance Thomas
• Rev. Vincent Thomas
• Rev. William Michael
• Rev. Xavier Andrew[9]

• 2016 The Fisher's Net Awards - Best Diocesan Use of New Media[10]

• Catholic Church in Malaysia
• List of Catholic dioceses in Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei
• List of Catholic dioceses (structured view)-Episcopal Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur.

• Official website
• Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur Catechesis website on Archive.org
• Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur on catholic-hierarchy.org
• Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur on gcatholic.org