LEOPOLDINA, diocese of. – City and diocese in the State of Minas Geraes in Brazil.
The diocese has an area of 8,197 sq km, with 450,000 inhabitants, of whom 420,000 are Catholics, distributed among 34 parishes, served by 34 diocesan priests and 8 religious priests; it has one seminary, 2 male and 15 female religious communities (1950).
It was created by Pope Pius XII on 28 March 1942 with the apostolic constitution Quae ad maius, by detaching territory from the archdiocese of Marianna and from the diocese of Juiz de Fora; at the same time, the church dedicated to the martyr s. Sebastiano, also patron of the diocese, was elevated to cathedral rank. The diocese is a suffragan of Marianna. Its first bishop, since 1943, has been Mgr. Delfino Ribeiro Guedes.