PETROPOLIS, DIOCESE of. — City and diocese in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
It has an area of 3,551 sq. km. and a population of 270,000, of whom 250,000 are Catholics. It has 21 parishes served by 15 diocesan priests and 41 religious priests; it has one seminary, 6 male and 25 female religious communities (Ann. Pont., 1952, p. 317).
The diocese was created by Pope Pius XII by the apostolic constitution Pastoralis, qua urgemur of 13 April 1946, through the division of the dioceses of Niteroi and Barra do Piraí, and by elevating to the rank and dignity of a cathedral the church dedicated to s. Pietro de Alcantara existing in P. Its first bishop is the present Mons. E. P. Da Cunha Cintra. The diocese is suffragan to S. Sebastiano di Rio de Janeiro.