PULATI, DIOCESE of. - It is situated in the interior of northern Albania, suffragan to Scutari. From 877 to 1032 it was subject to the archdiocese of Dioclea. When the latter was destroyed, Antivari became the metropolitan see (1032 or 1034), to which P. was suffragan until 1887, when it passed under Scutari.
From 1340 to 1520, indeed, there existed two dioceses of P. (Polata maior and minor). The bishops of the latter generally bore the title of Episcopi Sobrienses, from the village of Sosi, seat of the Ordinary. By decree of 11 Feb. 1636, the bishop of Sappa was entrusted with the interim administration of the diocese. At that time the Franciscans began their missionary work, especially in the districts of Gashi and Kranjice, which had converted to Islam under Turkish persecution. Given the small number of Catholics, P. was changed into an apostolic vicariate on 9 May 1667, but was raised again to a diocese on 16 Sept. 1697 under the Franciscan Pietro Karagić.
The present situation under a regime of persecution does not permit the giving of statistics.