NATAL, DIOCESE OF. – A city and diocese in the state of Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil, suffragan to Paraíba.
It has about 500,000 inhabitants; comprises 24 parishes served by 23 diocesan priests; 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 Msgr. G. De Almeida (1911–15); he was followed by Msgr. A. dos Santos Cabral (1918–21), then Msgr. G. Pereira Alves (1922–28); the present bishop is Msgr. M. De Souza Dantas since 1929.
Pope Pius XII with the apostolic constitution *Pro Ecclesiarum omnium* of 28 July 1934 dismembered a group of parishes from the diocese of N., creating the new diocese of Mossoró (q.v.).