The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Delhi ( la, Delhien(sis)) is a

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...

Metropolitan

archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in northern India. Its

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

archiepiscopal see is

Sacred Heart The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devo ...

Cathedral, in the national capital city of

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...

History

* 13 September 1910: Established as Metropolitan Archdiocese of Simla, on territory split off from the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Agra and Diocese of Lahore. * 13 April 1937: Renamed as Metropolitan Archdiocese of Delhi and Simla. * 4 June 1959: Renamed as Metropolitan Archdiocese of Delhi, having lost territory to establish as suffragan the Diocese of Simla.

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

made two

papal visit Papal travel outside Rome has been historically rare, and voluntary travel of the pope was non-existent for the first 500 years. Pope John Paul II (1978–2005) undertook more pastoral trips than all his predecessors combined. Pope Francis (2013� ...

s, in February 1986 and November 1999.

Statistics

, the diocese served 115,300 Catholics (0.4% of the total population of 26,810,000) in , with 60 parishes and 4 missions. Personnel consisted of 301 priests (130 diocesan, 171 religious), 1,006 lay religious (391 brothers, 615 sisters) and 25 seminarians.

Ordinaries

(all

) ;Metropolitan

Archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

s of Simla * Archbishop Anselm Edward John Kenealy,

Capuchin Franciscans The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. O.F.M. Cap.) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of Three " First Orders" that reformed from the Franciscan Friars Minor Observant (OFM Obs., now OFM ...

(O.F.M. Cap.) (21 December 1910 – 13 January 1936 ''see below'') **

Apostolic Administrator An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

Archbishop Anselm Edward John Kenealy, O.F.M. Cap. (''see above'' 13 January 1936 – 13 April 1937), when retired as

Titular Archbishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

Ratiaria Ratiaria (or: Raetiaria, Retiaria, Reciaria, Razaria; bg, Рациария; el, Ραζαρία μητρόπολις;) was a city founded by the Moesians, a Daco-Thracian tribe, in the 4th century BC, along the river Danube. In Roman times it w ...

(13 January 1936 – death 8 December 1943) ;Metropolitan Archbishops of Delhi and Simla *

Silvestro Patrizio Mulligan Silvestro is both a surname and a masculine Italian given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname: *Alex Silvestro (born 1988), American football player *Chris Silvestro (born 1979), Scottish footballer *Jim Silvestro (born 1963), Austr ...

, O.F.M. Cap. (13 April 1937 – death 16 August 1950), retired Titular Archbishop of Cyrrhus (1950.08.16 – 1950.10.23) **

Father John Burke (1950 – 12 April 1951) (later Bishop) * Joseph Alexander Fernandes (12 April 1951 – 4 June 1959) ;Metropolitan Archbishops of Delhi *

Joseph Alexander Fernandes Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

(4 June 1959 – 16 September 1967) *

Angelo Innocent Fernandes Angelo Innocent Fernandes (1913-2000) was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Delhi from 1967 to 1990. He was born in Karachi on 28 July 1913, trained for the priesthood, and was ordained in 1937 in Bombay (Mumbai) where he became Rector of the ...

(16 September 1967 – 19 November 1990) * Alan Basil de Lastic (19 November 1990 – 20 June 2000) * Vincent Michael Conçessao (7 September 2000 – 30 November 2012) ** Auxiliary Bishop: Franco Mulakkal (17 January 2009 – 13 June 2013) * Anil José Tomas Couto (30 November 2012 – ...)

Ecclesiastical province

Delhi's

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United State ...

comprises the Metropolitan's own archdiocese and the following

suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictiona ...

dioceses: * Roman Catholic Diocese of Jammu–Srinagar *

Roman Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar The Roman Catholic Diocese of Jalandhar / Jullundur ( la, Iullunduren(sis)) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church, located in the city of Jalandhar in the ecclesiastical province of Delhi in India. History * 17 January 1952: Estab ...

Roman Catholic Diocese of Simla and Chandigarh The Roman Catholic Diocese of Simla and Chandigarh ( la, Simlen(sis) et Chandigarhen(sis)) is a diocese located in the cities of Simla and Chandigarh in the Ecclesiastical province of Delhi in India. History * 4 June 1959: Established as Dioc ...

Sources and external links

GCatholic.org

Archdiocese website

History

Statistics

Ordinaries

Ecclesiastical province

Sources and external links

See also