PORTO NACIONALE, DIOCESE OF
City and diocese in the State of Goiás in Brazil. It covers an area of 250,000 km² with a population of 213,000 inhabitants, of whom 208,000 are Catholic. It has 17 parishes served by 10 diocesan priests, a major and minor seminary (Ann. Pont., 1952, p. 325).
The diocese was created by Pope Benedict XV with the bull *Apostolatus officium* of 20 December 1915, by separating it from the Diocese of Goiás, elevating to the dignity of a cathedral the church dedicated to Our Lady of Graces existing in Porto Nacional. The diocese is suffragan to Mariana; the patroness of the diocese is Nossa Senhora das Mercês.
BIBL.: AAS, 8 (1916), pp. 92-95; G. B. Lehmann, *Conheça o Brasil Católico* 1947, Juiz de Fora 1947, pp. 313-15.