KATHMANDU (UCAN) -- Christians joined majority Hindus and others in celebrating the emergence of Nepal as a republic after a special assembly voted to abolish the Himalayan country's 239-year-old Hindu monarchy.

The 601-member Constituent Assembly voted overwhelmingly to abolish the monarchy a day after being sworn in May 27 in Kathmandu.

Bishop Anthony Sharma, apostolic vicar of Nepal, described the move as a "truly a great achievement" when he spoke with UCA News on May 29.

Even while the first meeting of the assembly was delayed, for about 10 hours, celebrations started early morning on May 28 across Nepal.

The announcement that assembly members had cast "560 votes in support of the proposal for the implementation of a republic," with only four votes against, was not made until close to midnight. Despite the late hour, people thronged the streets of the capital, singing, dancing and waving the flags of various political parties to welcome the republic.

"We (Catholics), as citizens of the country, deserve to be proud, and we rejoice with the nation and our brothers and sisters. We thank God for his blessings," Bishop Sharma said.

The Nepal Catholic Directory counts 7,500 Catholics among the 1 million or so Christians in Nepal. More than 80 percent of the country's 28 million people are Hindus.

The Constituent Assembly, elected by the people in April, is drafting a new constitution, and the Maoists, who until 2006 fought a decade-long war to establish a communist republic, form the single largest party. The assembly will also act as parliament for a term of five years.

It instructed the government to ask King Gyanendra Shah to vacate Narayanhiti Royal Palace within two weeks and dissolve his personal secretariat inclusive of all perks, allowances and facilities, media reported.

"Nepal has again made history and shown that dialogue is a way to peace and ultimate prosperity ... especially to those countries where armed struggle is still on," Bishop Sharma said.

"It is also a sad day for the monarchy. It is sad indeed that it did not know its time had come," the Jesuit prelate added. As a seminarian in the 1960s, he taught King Gyanendra and his brother, the late King Birendra Shah, at Jesuit-run St. Joseph's College in Darjeeling, in neighboring India. Bishop Sharma had told UCA News in April that the 60-year-old monarch had only himself to blame for some very bad judgment.

The monarchy came under immense pressure when pro-democracy rallies defied curfews and even shoot-on-sight warnings, forcing the king to reconvene in April 2006 the parliament he had dismissed in May 2002. Parliament then stripped King Gyanendra of most of his power and gave itself the power to appoint the army chief, to deploy military forces and to remove "royal" from all official documents. The king had consolidated power in himself saying this was necessary to end the Maoist conflict that claimed more than 11,000 lives since it began in 1996. However, after parliament and the government were reinstated, the Maoists signed a peace accord with the government in 2006.

Laxmi Prasad Neupane, a Protestant, told UCA News on May 29: "The only thing that matters is peace. A new era in Nepal's history has begun, and let there be peace now. We have to pray for this." Neupane recalled that Christians faced persecution under the monarchy, but "we were able to do God's work even during the rule of the kings here." He added, "Now that the republic has dawned, we hope to work for God in a better way."

Augustine Bomzon, a Catholic, told UCA News on May 29, "It is a good thing the country has become a republic, and I hope the common people will be able to get their full rights, unlike in the past." He said the monarchy had to be dismantled, because kings would always suppress people.

Christians in Nepal have had freedom to practice their faith only since 1991, when a new constitution established religious freedom and changed the absolute monarchy to a constitutional one. Before that, conversion from one religion to another was illegal in the kingdom, with conversion or attempts to convert others considered criminal offenses and punishable by imprisonment.

END