Catholic Intelligence

Diocese of Balasore

Balasoren(sis)

Latin rite diocese in Odisha, India, established as an apostolic prefecture on 8 June 1968 from the Archdiocese of Calcutta and promoted to diocese on 18 December 1989. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, with Christ the King Cathedral in Balasore as its seat. Its patron is Christ the King.

The see

Rank
Suffragan diocese
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
18 December 1989
Latin
Balasoren(sis)
Patron
Christ the King
Annuario code
001000800

The see in figures

Catholics
23,643
Population
8,974,200
Catholic share
0.3%

of the people living within its bounds

Priests
63
Catholics per priest
375
Extent
25,118 km²
Catholics per km²
0.9

Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.

The bishop

Bishop
Varghese Thottamkara, C.M.

A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.

The cathedral

Christ the King Cathedral, Balasore stands in Balasore, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.

On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.

The province of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar

A suffragan of Archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar.

The sees of this province:

On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.

History

Within India's ecclesiastical province of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Balasore (Latin: Balasoren(sis)) is seated in the city of Balasore. On Monday, 9 December 2013, Bishop Thomas Thiruthalil, CM, presented his resignation from the diocese's pastoral governance under Canon 401.1 of the Latin Rite 1983 Code of Canon Law, and Pope Francis accepted it.

What is kept by invitation

The record above is published because it is public: what this see is, when it was erected, who holds its chair, and where it stands among its neighbours.

The working record is not. The chancery's address, telephone and email, the clergy of the see, and the hours of Mass, confession and adoration in the parishes within it are kept for members, and a person reads every request.

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Sources

The see's own website · Wikipedia

This record is compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. On the method, see the keeping of the record. Whoever finds an error is asked, in charity, to write: [email protected].