Charles Maung Bo was born on 29 October 1948 to a farming family in Monhla, a small village in the Shwebo district in the heart of Myanmar. He is the youngest of the children of U John and Julian Daw Aye Tin. Having lost his father at the age of only two, he was entrusted to the care of the Salesians in Mandalay, from whom he received a solid primary and secondary education. In this context his priestly vocation was born, and in the light of Don Bosco's charism he completed all his formation, in particular the studies carried out between 1962 and 1976 in the Salesian Nazareth aspirantate at Anikasan in Pyin Oo Lwin. Here he made his first profession, on 24 May 1970, and his perpetual profession on 10 March 1976.
After being ordained a Salesian priest in Lashio on 9 April 1976, he had his first pastoral commitment as parish priest in Loihkam, where he remained until 1981, when he was recalled to Lashio to carry out the ministry of parish priest until 1983. For the next two years he was a formator at the Anisakan seminary, where he himself had been a student.
In 1985 he was entrusted – for a year as Apostolic Administrator and then until 1990 as Apostolic Prefect – with the Prefecture of Lashio, in the troubled State of Shan. And when on 7 July 1990 the Prefecture was elevated to a Diocese, he became its first Bishop, receiving episcopal ordination the following 16 December. As his episcopal motto he chose Omnia possum in Eo, which translated means "I can do everything in Him".
After six years, on 13 March 1996, he was transferred to the Diocese of Pathein and then, in 2002, also appointed Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Mandalay.
On 15 May 2003, he was promoted to Archbishop of Yangon, the largest Burmese city and, at the time, the nation's capital. The entrance to the new See took place on 7 June.
Committed to strengthening the faith of a community marked by continuous difficulties and suffering, he has always worked for dialogue between religions, convinced that the commitment of the various religious leaders is essential to calm the tensions that plague the country.
Within the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Myanmar (CEM) he served as president for six years, from 2000 to 2006; in addition, he was also Secretary Treasurer of the Episcopal Conference of Myanmar and responsible in the Burmese Church for the Major Seminary and dialogue between religions.
He also played his role as an ecclesial leader at the continental level: within the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences (FABC) he was head of the Office for Human Development and a member of the Commission for Religious, and on 1 January 2019 he became President of the FABC.
On 4 January 2015, after the Sunday angelus, Pope Francis announced his intention to make him a cardinal in the consistory that was held at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on 14 February.
With regard to service in the Roman Curia, the Pontiff appointed him a member of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life; of the Pontifical Council for Culture; and of the Dicasteries for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; for Culture and Education; for Communication.
A strong supporter of dialogue between peoples and religions, concretely committed to the promotion of peace, reconciliation and justice in a country whose history is also marked by dictatorship and ethnic clashes, Charles Maung Bo is the first cardinal of Myanmar, a country in which the Church, despite being a numerically small presence, has always given testimony of faith in the midst of persecution.
