The Roman Catholic Diocese of Belgaum ( la, Belgaumen(sis)) is a

diocese 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 associa ...

located in the city of Belgaum in the

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of seve ...

Bangalore Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...

in India.

History

The Belgaum Diocese was erected on 19 September 1953 by the papal bull ''Summa illa Sollicitudo'' of Pope Pius XII. Two civil districts of Belgaum and North Kanara were separated from the

Archdiocese of Goa The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Goa and Daman ( la, Archidioecesis Goanae et Damanensis, gom, Gõy ani Damanv Mha-Dhormprant, pt, Arquidiocese de Goa e Damão) encompasses the Goa state and the Damaon territory in the Konkan r ...

and two other civil districts of Dharwad and Bijapur were taken from the Diocese of Pune in forming the Diocese of Belgaum. The most Rev. Dr. Michael Rodrigues was appointed the first bishop. By the papal bull ''Christi Missium'' of Paul VI, the North Kanara District was separated from the Belgaum Diocese to form the Karwar Diocese on 24 January 1976. It now consists of the civil districts of Belgaum, Bijapur, Bagalkot, Dharwad, Gadag and Haveri in Karnataka State and the Chandgad taluka in Kolhapur District of Maharashtra State. The mother parish of the diocese is known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Family Rosary of Fatima, or Fatima Cathedral for short. It is located in the cantonment area of Belgaum and is a prominent landmark. The rector of the parish is currently Rev. Fr. Victor.

Leadership

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

s of Belgaum (

Latin Rite Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church '' sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once ...

) * Bishop

Michael Rodrigues Michael Rodrigues may refer to: * Michael Rodrigues (politician) Michael J. Rodrigues (born May 30, 1959) is a Democratic Party (United States), Democratic member of the Massachusetts Senate representing the Massachusetts Senate's 1st Bristol an ...

(19 September 1953 – 15 March 1964) * Bishop Fortunato da Veiga Coutinho (15 March 1964 – 8 February 1967) * Bishop Ignatius P. Lobo (26 September 1967 – 1 December 1994) * Bishop Bernard Blasius Moras (later Archbishop) (30 November 1996 – 22 July 2004) * Bishop Peter Machado (later Archbishop) (2 February 2006 – 30 May 2018) * Bishop Derek Fernandes(1 May 2019 – Present)

References

GCatholic.org

Roman Catholic dioceses in India Christian organizations established in 1953 Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 20th century Christianity in Karnataka {{India-RC-diocese-stub