Despite being a former French colony, Cambodia has no cathedrals. The Khmer Rouge destroyed most church buildings soon after seizing control of the country on this day 50 years ago in April 1975. It's a salutary thought, to say the least, this Maundy Thursday.

During the nightmarish Khmer Rouge reign, which lasted just under four years, most Catholics either perished or fled to other countries – typically neighbouring Vietnam, the ancestral homeland of many of Cambodia's faithful.

Catholics currently account for just one-fifth of 1 per cent of Cambodia's overall population of 18 million. Catholicism first arrived in Cambodia in the mid-1550s by way of Portuguese Jesuits. Such attempts to evangelise the native Cambodians (often called “Khmer", the name of both the main language and ethnic group) were a failure.