His Holiness Pope Francis on 25th March, 2019, made an appointment in the Church of Myanmar. The Pontiff appointed Fr. Marco Tin Win as the Archbishop of Mandalay. The 59-year old priest, who has been the vicar general of Mandalay, takes over from Archbishop Nicholas Mang Thang, who stepped down the same day, having reached the canonical retirement age of 75 for bishops.
Fr. Marco Tin Win was born in Mon Hla, district of Shwebo, in the Archdiocese of Mandalay on April 22, 1960, and attended primary and secondary schools in Mon Hla and secondary school in the St. Aloysius Minor Seminary in Pyin Oo Lwin.
In 1979 he entered the St. Joseph’s Major Seminary in Yangon, where he completed his philosophical and theological studies. On September 22, 1987, he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Mandalay.
From 1992 to 1997 he studied at the Pontifical Urban University in Rome and obtained a Doctorate in Philosophy.
Since his ordination, Fr. Marco Tin Win has held a number of pastoral and administrative roles, including diocesan director for interreligious dialogue, rector of the Saint Thomas Preparatory Seminary of Mandalay, diocesan Bursar, parish priest of the parish of Mary, Help of Christians in Sagaing, and executive secretary of the Episcopal Conference in Yangon. He is currently vicar general, rector of the Cathedral of Mandalay and lecturer in philosophy at Saint Joseph’s Major Seminary in Pyin Oo Lwin.
His Eminence Cardinal Charles Bo, Archbishop of Yangon, has welcomed the appointment of the new Archbishop of Mandalay as “grace-filled news from our Holy Father”. Cardinal Charles Bo further stated “Fr.Marco Tin Win brings to his mission, decades of quality service to Church in Myanmar as professor of Philosophy and as an able administrator, both at the national Bishop Conference and Mandalay Archdiocese.”
