PARACATÙ. - A city and prelature *nullius* in the State of Minas Gerais, Brazil. It has an area of 70,000 sq. km. and a population of about 80,000 inhabitants, all Catholic. There are 6 parishes served by Carmelites of the Ancient Observance; there are also priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Capuchins, and a women’s religious community.
The prelature was created by Pope Pius XI with the apostolic constitution *Pro munere sibi divinitus* of March 1, 1929, by separating territory from the dioceses of Montes Claros and Ubeda and elevating the church of St. Anthony of Padua in the city of Paracatú to the rank and dignity of a prelature. The prelature is a suffragan of Diamantina.
BIBL.: AAS, 23 (1931), pp. 317–19; G. B. Lehmann, *O Brasil Católico* 1947, Juiz de Fora 1947, pp. 478–79. Virginio Battezzati