PORTO NAZIONALE, DIOCESI of. — City and diocese in the State of Goias, Brazil. It has an area of 250,000 sq km and a population of 213,000 inhabitants, of whom 208,000 are Catholics. It has 17 parishes, served by 10 diocesan priests, and a major and minor seminary (Ann. Pont., 1952, p. 325).
The diocese was created by Pope Benedetto XV with the bull Apostolatus officium of 20 December 1915, by division of the diocese of Goias, elevating to the rank and dignity of cathedral the church dedicated to Our Lady of Graces existing in P. N. The diocese is suffragan to Mariana; the patroness of the diocese is N. Senhora des Meries.
BIBL.: AAS, 8 (1916), pp. 92-95; G. B. Lehmann, O Brasil Católico 1947, Juiz de Fora 1947, pp. 313-15. Virginio Battezzati