Pierre Sophal Tonlop
Pierre Sophal Tonlop is a Cambodian Roman Catholic priest best known as the first native of Cambodia to be ordained a priest after the ruling Khmer Rouge fell in 1979; he was ordained for the Apostolic Prefecture of Battambang on 22 July 1995.
Tonlop was a resident of Canada from 1984 to 1990, during which he studied at the Grand Séminaire de Montréal. From 1990 to 1993, he continued his studies in France. By 1994, after his ordination as a deacon, he volunteered to become a missionary in Cambodia for a return to his native country.
As of 2012, he is Battambang's Vicar Delegate in charge of caring for Vietnamese Catholic communities in the country, alongside heading the Rice Bank of the Church.
