36 Facts About Cornelius Sim

Cornelius Sim DD was a Bruneian prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Vicar Apostolic of Brunei from 2004 until his death.

Cornelius Sim had previously served as the apostolic prefect of Brunei from 1997 to 2004.

Cornelius Sim has been credited as "Brunei's most famous Catholic" and a "towering figure" in the history of Bruneian Christianity.

Cornelius Sim was born in Seria, Brunei, on 16 September 1951.

Cornelius Sim was the eldest of six children of Lawrence Sim and Monica Yeo, and his grandparents were the first Catholics in their village, with the Church's history in Brunei documented most prominently from the 19th century onwards.

Cornelius Sim was raised a Catholic and educated in Catholic schools, but practised his faith less as he reached adulthood.

Cornelius Sim earned an engineering degree from Dundee University in Scotland.

Cornelius Sim worked in utilities operations of Brunei LNG, a joint-venture between the Bruneian government, Royal Dutch Shell and Mitsubishi, from 1978 to 1985; he spent some of these years working abroad.

Cornelius Sim earned a master's degree in theology at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, in 1988.

Cornelius Sim returned to Brunei in 1988 and served as an administrator in St John's Church, Kuala Belait until his ordination as deacon on 28 May 1989.

Cornelius Sim was ordained to the priesthood on 26 November 1989.

Cornelius Sim served the faithful in Brunei alongside two other missionary priests resident in Brunei, until 1991.

Cornelius Sim was appointed vicar general of Brunei in 1995, which was part of the Diocese of Miri in Malaysia at the time.

Cornelius Sim attended the 1998 Asia Synod of Bishops and was observed as a "young prefect apostolic" at the time.

Three years later in 2001, Cornelius Sim attended the ad limina visit to Pope John Paul II by prelates from the Bishops' Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

Cornelius Sim received his episcopal consecration on 21 January 2005 from Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio at the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Bandar Seri Begawan.

Cornelius Sim requested that his ordination be held in Brunei rather than Rome, so that the local faithful could take part.

Cornelius Sim was involved in the activities of schools operating under his authority, publicly attending functions such as Chinese New Year.

Cornelius Sim frequently acted as the representative of the Christian community in Brunei during government engagements locally and abroad, including with foreign diplomatic missions, local ministries and the supreme court.

Cornelius Sim made visits to overseas missions such as in Timor Leste.

In June 2005, Cornelius Sim welcomed the Holy See's foreign minister to Brunei, who during his visit met with Brunei's deputy sultan.

Cornelius Sim made an ad limina visit on 5 June 2008 to the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican for an audience with Pope Benedict XVI.

On 15 July 2014, Cornelius Sim backed calls made by Brunei's reigning sultan to the country to pray for peace in Palestine amid rising tensions.

Cornelius Sim urged Catholics to pray for peace, and pledged the Catholic Church's support towards Brunei government aid initiatives.

Cornelius Sim celebrated his 10th episcopal anniversary and coincidentally his silver jubilee of ordination to the priesthood on 21 January 2015 with a commemorative Mass at the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Bandar Seri Begawan.

On 8 February 2018, Cornelius Sim made an ad limina visit to the Vatican for an audience with Pope Francis.

In May 2018, Cornelius Sim publicly attended the silver jubilee celebrations at the Kota Kinabalu archdiocese.

Cornelius Sim accepted the appointment "for the good of the Church and the peoples in the region", saying it was "a good sign for the nation".

Cornelius Sim did not attend the consistory in Rome because of travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cornelius Sim thus was not present when the new appointed cardinals accompanied Pope Francis to visit the former Pope Benedict XVI at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery.

In spite of a quietened coverage of his elevation as he did not attend the consistory, Cornelius Sim still recognised his appointment to the cardinalate as being a sign of worldwide recognition of the nation's Christian community in general.

Cornelius Sim sent a Marian gift in gratitude to Pope Francis on behalf of the Catholic community of Brunei.

In March 2021, Cornelius Sim joined with other Asian cardinals in calling for "peace and reconciliation" in Myanmar.

Cornelius Sim died on 29 May 2021 at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taoyuan, Taiwan.

Cornelius Sim's passing received coverage in local state-influenced and independent news media and online forums, as well as Catholic outlets throughout the world.

Cornelius Sim was among the contributing theologians and bishops of a youth edition release of the New Testament intended for the young peoples of Asia, which was launched at the FABC general conference in Thailand on 21 October 2022.