The Roman Catholic Diocese of Itanagar (''Dioecesis Itanagarensis'') in
India was created on 7 December 2005 by splitting it from the
Diocese of Tezpur. It is a
suffragan diocese
A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria ...
of the
Archdiocese of Guwahati
The Archdiocese of Guwahati ( la, Guvahatin(a)) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church located in the city of Guwahati in India. The archdiocese is a metropolitan see with six suffragan dioceses in ...
. Its first
bishop was
John Thomas Kattrukudiyil. The
St. Joseph
Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers ...
's church in Itanagar is the cathedral of the diocese.
The
diocese covers 10 districts of the state of
Arunachal Pradesh - Tawang, West Kameng, East Kameng, Papum Pare, Upper Subansiri, Lower Subansiri, Kurung Kamay, West Siang, East Siang and Upper Siang. Neighboring dioceses are the
Diocese of Tezpur to the south, the
Diocese of Miao to the east. To the west is
Bhutan, to the north
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.
The diocese covers an area of 52,288 km². As of 2020, 83,822 in the area are member of the Catholic Church. The diocese is subdivided into 42
parishes.
External links
GCatholic.orgVatican press release on the creation
Roman Catholic dioceses in India
Christianity in Arunachal Pradesh
Itanagar
Christian organizations established in 2005
Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 21st century
2005 establishments in Arunachal Pradesh
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