Roman Catholic Diocese of Bettiah

Roman Catholic diocese in Bihar, India

Diocese of Bettiah Dioecesis Bettiahensis बेतिया के सूबा

Bettiah cathedral church
Location
Country	India
Ecclesiastical province	Patna
Metropolitan	Patna
Statistics
Area	16,089 km² (6,212 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2012) 15,891,000 5,810 (0.0%)
Parishes	12
Information
Rite	Latin Rite
Cathedral	Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Bettiah
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Fr. Peter Sebastian Goveas
Metropolitan Archbishop	William D'Souza

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bettiah (Latin: Bettiahen(sis)) is a diocese located in the city of Bettiah in the ecclesiastical province of Patna in India.

Some of the communicants within this diocese are Bettiah Christians, one of the oldest ethnoreligious Christian communities in the northern Indian subcontinent.^[1] Newaris of the Catholic Christian faith who settled in Chuhari in the 1700s after being expelled from Nepal, are part of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bettiah as well; they are known as Newar Christians.^[1] Other Catholic Christian communities who are served by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Betetiah include those of scheduled castes and tribal people.^[1]

History

1892: Established as the Apostolic Prefecture of Bettiah from the Diocese of Allahabad
1917: Suppressed to the Apostolic Vicariate of Patna
June 27, 1998: Restored as Diocese of Bettiah from the Diocese of Muzaffarpur

Leadership

Bishops of Bettiah (Latin Rite)
- Fr. Peter Sebastian Goveas, Vicar General of Bhagalpur Diocese,^[2] is elected new Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Bettiah on 22 July 2017^[2]
- Bishop Victor Henry Thakur (June 27, 1998 – July 3, 2013); elevated to Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Raipur, in Raipur, India, by Pope Francis
Prefects Apostolic of Bettiah (Latin Rite)
- Fr. Eugenio Remigio Schwarz, O.F.M. Cap. (1892 – 1918)

References

^ ^a ^b ^c John, Jose Kalapura (2000). Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 61. Indian History Congress. pp. 1011, 1016.
^ ^a ^b "Pope Francis appoints new bishop in India's Bettiah Diocese". www.archivioradiovaticana.va. Retrieved 10 April 2024.