AKIPRESS.COM - The Jesuit apostolic administrator of the Kyrgyzstan, Bishop Nikolaus Messmer died on Monday at the age of 61. He was the only Catholic bishop in the Central Asian country, as the Vatican announced.

Born in 1954 to a German family, Messmer entered the Jesuits in 1975. After his ordination, he went to serve the tiny Catholic community in the only existing church of St. Michael Archangel in Bishkek. The church was built in 1969 by German Catholics.

Besides St. Michael Archangel, there are two other parishes in Kyrgyzstan, Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta in Jalal-Abad and a third in the town of Talas.

In 1997, Pope John Paul II established a mission territory in Kyrgyzstan, and Pope Benedict elevated it to an apostolic administration in 2006.