Roman Catholic Diocese of Poona

The Diocese of Poona (lat.: Dioecesis Poonensis ) is a Roman Catholic diocese in India. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Bombay and consists of the districts of Pune, Satara, Solapur, Sangli and Kolhapur. The diocese of Poona maintains since 1955 a partnership with the Bavarian diocese of Eichstätt. It is the second oldest international partnership of a German diocese, according to the partnership between the bishoprics of Cologne and Tokyo (since 1954).

History

The diocese was erected on September 1, 1886. The Jesuit Bernard Both -Linden became the first bishop of Poona. On 20 October 1953, the diocese received the districts of Ratnagiri and Pune, were formerly the responsibility of the Archdiocese of Goa. On 30 November of the same year it joined with the districts of Dharwar and Bijapur parts of its territory to the diocese from Belgaum. The May next area loss was 1987 was erected as the Diocese of Nashik and received the districts of Nashik, Dhule, Jalgaon and Ahmednagar. July 2005 joined the diocese territories to the newly erected diocese of Sindhudurg from and has since its present form. The diocese of Poona consists of the districts of Pune, Satara, Solapur, Sangli and Kolhapur.

From 11 to 14 February 2003, the first diocese synod of the diocese of Poona took place in Ishvani Kendra.

Bishops of Poona

• Both Bernard -Linden (1886-1907)
• Hermann Döring (1907-1921)
• Vacant (1921-1927)
• Hermann Döring (1927-1948)
• Andrew Alexis D'Souza (1949-1967)
• William Zephyrine Gomes (1967-1976)
• Valerian D' Souza (1977-2009)
• Thomas Dabre (since 2009)