Caicó, Diocese of. — In the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, a suffragan of Paraíba, situated in the central-southern part of the state, in a hot but fertile area for cattle raising and tobacco production.
It covers an area of 8,140 sq. km. and has 112,609 inhabitants. Caicó, elevated to city status in 1938, lies at 135 m. above sea level and has 25,000 inhabitants.
The diocese was erected by Pius XI with the apostolic constitution *E dioecesibus* of 25 Nov. 1939, by separation from the diocese of Natal. It has 9 parishes and about twenty diocesan priests. The titular of the diocese and its cathedral are dedicated to St. Anne.
BIBL.: AAS, 39 (1940), p. 141; J. B. Lehmann, *O Brasil Católico* 1947, Juiz de Fora 1947, pp. 73–75.
Maurilio Cesar de Lima