It has an area of 17,427 sq. km. with a population of 463,870 inhabitants, of whom 450,273 are Catholics. At present it has 42 parishes, with 35 secular priests and 39 religious. It has a minor seminary, 11 male religious communities and 23 female.
The diocese was created on 17 June 1908 by Pope Pius X with the bull *Diocesum nimiam amplitudinem*; Pope Pius XI on 25 June 1929 separated two other dioceses, those of Rio Preto and Jaboticabal. The titular of the diocese and of the cathedral is St Charles Borromeo.
BIBL.: Ann. Pont., 1952, p. 350; O Brasil Católico, 1947, Juiz de Fora 1947, pp. 346-147. Virginio Battezzati