Bangalore [Bengaluru], Diocese of

BANGALORE [BENGALURU], Diocese of. - Suffragan of Pondichéry, entrusted to the indigenous secular clergy, and erected in 1940 with territory detached from the diocese of Mysore, with an area of 37,520 sq km and about 4,242,000 inhabitants, 12,000 Europeans and Anglo-Indians. Nine tenths of the population follow Hinduism, 314,819 are Muslims and 26,000 Protestants. Catholics number 67,100, with 86 priests, of whom 35 are Europeans, 390 nuns belonging to 13 different religious institutes, 8 brothers,

61 catechists. Three fifths of the Catholics of the diocese live in Bangalore, a city of 300,000 inhabitants. There are 45 elementary schools with 9,907 pupils, 18 middle schools with 3,440 pupils, 11 high schools with 1,431, 2 normal schools with 23 pupils: many are pagans. There are also 3 hospitals with 224 beds and 7 orphanages with 665 children and a printing press. The Messenger of the Little Flower is printed in Tamil in 1,000 copies. Since 1918 it has also been the seat of the apostolic delegation of the East Indies, which since 1948, transformed into an apostolic internunciature, has been transferred to New Delhi.

Valentino Belgeri