Diocese of Sindhudurg
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The (Roman Catholic) Diocese of Sindhudurg (Dioecesis Sindhudurgiensis) in India was created on July 5, 2005, when it was split off from the Diocese of Poona. It was a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Bombay until 25 November 2006, when Pope Benedict XVI transferred it to the newly established Metropolitan province of Goa and Damao. Its first bishop is Anthony Alwyn Fernandes Barreto. The parish church in Sawantwadi, dedicated to Our Lady of Miracles, will serve as the cathedral for the diocese.
The diocese covers an area of 21,099 km² of the state Maharashtra, covering the districts Sindhudurg, Ratnagiri and Kolhapur except the St. Francis Xavier parish in Kolhapur City. Neighboring dioceses are the Archdiocese of Goa to the south, the Diocese of Belgaum to the southeast, to the east the Diocese of Poona, to the north the Archdiocese of Bombay, and to the west is the Arabian Sea.
The total population in the diocese is 5,365,706, of which 29,794 are Catholic. The diocese is subdivided into 17 parishes.
