RIO PRETO, DIOCESE OF. - Suffragan of the archdiocese of S. Paolo, in the same-named state (Brazil).
It covers an area of 37,500 sq. km. with a population of 610,000 inhabitants, of whom 600,000 are Catholic. It has 43 parishes, served by 32 diocesan priests and 20 religious. It has a minor seminary, 7 male religious communities, and 4 female.
The diocese was erected by Pope Pius XI with the bull *Sollecitudo omnium Ecclesiarum* of January 1929, by separating territory from the diocese of S. Carlo do Pinhal and elevating the church of S. Giuseppe in R. P. to the status of cathedral. Its first bishop was Msgr. Libanio Lafaiete.
BIBL.: *O Brasil Católico* 1947, Juiz de Fora 1947, p. 328 SGG.; *Ann. Pont.* 1952, p. 339.