NATAL, DIOCESE of. — City and diocese in the State of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, suffragan of Paraíba.
It has approximately 500,000 inhabitants; it comprises 24 parishes served by 23 diocesan priests; it has a seminary, 4 male and 5 female religious communities.
The diocese was created by Pope Pius X with the apostolic constitution Apostolica in singulis of 11 November 1909. The Cathedral is dedicated to the Presentation.
The first bishop was Mgr. G. De Almeida (1911–15); he was followed by Mgr. A. dos Santos Cabral (1918–21), and then by Mgr. G. Pereira Alves (1922–28); the current bishop has been Mgr. M. De Souza Dantas since 1929.
Pope Pius XII, with the apostolic constitution Pro Ecclesiarum omnium of 28 July 1934, detached a group of parishes from the diocese of N., Mossoró (v.).