PALMAS. - City and prelature nullus in the State of Paraná, Brazil.
It has an area of 32,729 sq. km. and a population of 137,630 inhabitants, of whom 126,900 are Catholics. It has 11 parishes, served by 3 diocesan and 20 regular priests; it has 6 male and 9 female religious communities (Ann. Pont., 1951, p. 632).
The prelature was created by Pope Pio XII with the apostolic constitution Ad maius Christifidelium of 9 Dec. 1933, through the dismemberment of the dioceses of Lajes and Ponta Grassa, assigning to the new prelature the territories of P., Clevelandia, and Chapeco, with residence in the city of P., whose church, dedicated to the Most Holy Saviour, was raised to prelatic dignity. The boundaries of the prelature are: to the north, the Iguassù River; to the west, the Argentine Republic; to the east, the civil boundaries separating P. and Chapeco from the adjoining municipalities; and to the south, the Uruguay River as far as its confluence with the Irany.
The prelature is suffragan to Curityba.