Diocese of Islamabad-Rawalpindi
Islamabaden(sis)-Ravalpinden(sis)
Suffragan diocese · Latin Church · Islamabad-Rawalpindi, Pakistan
The Diocese of Islamabad-Rawalpindi is a Latin rite diocese covering northern Pakistan, including Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Kashmir and the Rawalpindi and Sargodha Divisions, suffragan of the Archdiocese of Lahore. Erected in 1887 as the Apostolic Prefecture of Kafiristan and Kashmir from the Diocese of Lahore, it became the Diocese of Rawalpindi in 1947 and took its present name in 1979. Its seat is St. Joseph's Cathedral in Rawalpindi.
The see
- Rank
- Suffragan diocese
- Tradition
- Latin Church
- Erected
- 1 June 1979
- Latin
- Islamabaden(sis)-Ravalpinden(sis)
- Annuario code
- 001001680
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 214,976
- Population
- 36,522,000
- Catholic share
- 0.6%
- Priests
- 32
- Catholics per priest
- 6,718
- Extent
- 178,341 km²
- Catholics per km²
- 1.2
of the people living within its bounds
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
- Joseph Arshad
- Born
- 25 August 1964
- Birthplace
- Lahore
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
St. Joseph's Cathedral, Rawalpindi stands in Islamabad-Rawalpindi, 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 Lahore
A suffragan of Lahore.
The sees of this province:
- Archdiocese of LahoreLahore
- Diocese of FaisalabadFaisalabad
- Diocese of MultanMultan
On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.
History
The story of the Diocese of Islamabad-Rawalpindi (Lat: Dioecesis Islamabadensis-Ravalpindensis), a Latin Church see in Pakistan, reaches back to 1887, when it was first erected as the Apostolic Prefecture of Kafiristan and Kashmir out of the Diocese of Lahore. In 1947 the prefecture was raised to a full diocese and took the name diocese of Rawalpindi.
How to reach it
- Chancery
- Bishop’s House, Tameezuddin Church Rd., Lalkurti, Rawalpindi Cantt. 46000, Pakistan
- Telephone
- [051]558.16.16
- [email protected]
This see keeps no website of its own, so its chancery is published here: withholding it would protect nothing and leave a reader with nowhere to go. Where a see publishes its own site, the register sends you there instead.
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 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.
Sources
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].