Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun

Louis-Marie Ling Mangkhanekhoun, IVD (born 8 April 1944) is a Laotian prelate of the Catholic Church. A bishop since 2001, he was made a cardinal on 28 June 2017 and served as the Vicar Apostolic of Vientiane since December 2017 until December 2024. He is the first cardinal from Laos.

He speaks Khmu, Lao, French, and English. He is sometimes referred to as Bishop or Cardinal Ling,

Biography He was born Ling Mangkhanekhoun was born on 8 April 1944 in Bonha-Louang in Xiangkhouang province in northeastern Laos. He is an ethnic Khmu. He received his religious instruction from French Oblate Missionaries. In the 1960s he was sent by the Oblates as the first Laotian to study philosophy and theology at the Voluntas Dei seminary in the Diocese of Edmundston, New Brunswick, Canada. He was ordained a priest in a hurried ceremony in a refugee camp

He worked as a priest in the Vicariate of Vientiane for more than 25 years, more than a decade of that time in rural areas, He was consecrated a bishop on 22 April 2001 by Bishop Jean Khamsé Vithavong, Vicar Apostolic of Vientiane.

He developed a system of seminary education that requires a candidate for the priesthood, after three years of study, to spend one to three years in pastoral work. He explained that they are "catechists, carrying medicines, aid, prayers for the people of the mountain. They integrate with the villagers, live as the villagers do in everything."

On 2 February 2017, Pope Francis gave him the additional responsibilities of apostolic administrator of the Apostolic Vicariate of Vientiane.

On 21 May 2017, Pope Francis announced his intention to make Mangkhanekhoun a cardinal. He was made a cardinal at a consistory on 28 June 2017, the first from Laos. On 4 October Pope Francis made him a member of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.

On 16 December 2017, Pope Francis named him Vicar Apostolic of Vientiane. Francis made him a member of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development on 23 December 2017 and of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue on 8 July 2020.