Roman Catholic Diocese of Imperatriz

Diocese of Imperatriz Dioecesis Imperatricis
Catedral Nossa Senhora da Fátima in 2012
Location
Country	Brazil
Ecclesiastical province	São Luís do Maranhão
Statistics
Area	22,659 km2 (8,749 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2004) 470,000 376,000 (80.0%)
Information
Rite	Latin Rite
Established	27 June 1987 (37 years ago)
Cathedral	Catedral Nossa Senhora da Fátima
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Gilberto Pastana de Oliveira
Metropolitan Archbishop	José Belisário da Silva, O.F.M.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Imperatriz (Latin: Dioecesis Imperatricis) is a suffragan Latin diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan of São Luís do Maranhão in northeastern Brazil.

Its cathedral episcopal see is Catedral Nossa Senhora da Fátima, dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima, in the city of Imperatriz, Maranhão state.

History

• Established on 27 June 1987 as Diocese of Imperatriz, on territory split off from the Diocese of Carolina.

Statistics

As per 2014, it pastorally served 414,000 Catholics (79.9% of 518,000 total) on 25,958 km² in 27 parishes and 2 missions with 43 priests (29 diocesan, 14 religious), 1 deacon, 65 lay religious (19 brothers, 46 sisters) and 7 seminarians .

Bishops

(all Roman rite)

Episcopal ordinaries

Suffragan Bishops of Imperatriz

• Affonso Felippe Gregory (1987.07.16 – retired 2005.08.03), also President of Caritas Internationalis (1991 – 1999); died 2008; previously Titular Bishop of Drusiliana (1979.08.02 – 1987.07.16) as Auxiliary Bishop of São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) (1979.08.02 – 1987.07.16)
• Gilberto Pastana de Oliveira (2005.08.03 – 2017.04.19), also Coadjutor Bishop of Crato (Brazil) (2016.05.18 – 2016.12.28), succeeding as Bishop of Crato (2016.12.28 – ...)
• Vilson Basso, Dehonians (S.C.I.) (2017.04.19 – ...), previously Bishop of Caxias do Maranhão (Brazil) (2010.03.19 – 2017.04.19).

Other priest of this diocese who became bishops

• Francisco Lima Soares, appointed Bishop of Carolina, Maranhão in 2018

See also

• List of Catholic dioceses in Brazil

Sources and external links

• GCatholic.org - data for all sections
• Catholic Hierarchy