In 1850 the Holy See established the Apostolic Vicariate of Phnom Penh, covering all the Kingdom of Cambodia, entrusting it to the care of the priests of the Paris Foreign Missions Society.

Paul Tep Im Sotha, who had been named the first Apostolic Prefect of Battambang in 1968, was killed together with Dom Jean Badre, a French Benedictine monk, in May 1975 in Bat Trang in the Mongolborei district of Banteay Meanchey Province.

At the end of the Khmer Rouge period, in 1979 and in the early eighties, only some Catholics were among the several hundred thousand who lived in the refugee settlements along the Thai border.

The tiny communities grew, and during this time of exile, intense effort was made by the Paris Foreign Mission priests to translate the bible and liturgy into the Khmer language.

Kike), a Jesuit priest from Asturias in Spain, who has been deeply involved in the life of the Cambodians beginning with his work in the Thai-Cambodia refugee camps, was installed as Prefect Apostolic.

Since 1985, Figaredo has worked with the Cambodian people, first through the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) in the camps on the Thai-Cambodia border and, later, in Banteay Prieb Technical School for the Handicapped and landmine victims in Ang Snuol, 22 kilometers from Phnom Penh.

Because of his presence to people and the active commitment of the Society of Jesus to the Cambodians, the Holy See put the leadership of the Catholic Church to the Jesuits through Figaredo.