SOBRAL, DIOCESE OF. - A city and diocese in the state of Ceará, Brazil.
It has an area of 48,200 sq. km. and a population of 783,081, of whom 755,342 are Catholics. There are 33 parishes, served by 53 diocesan priests and 7 religious priests. The diocese has one seminary, one male religious community, and four female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 404).
The diocese was erected by Benedict XV on 10 November 1915 through the apostolic constitution *Catholicae religionis bonum*, by separating the western part of the Diocese of Fortaleza, which was simultaneously elevated to the status of a metropolitan see, of which Sobral became a suffragan diocese. The titular of the diocese and cathedral is Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.
BIBL.: AAS, 7 (1915), p. 571; O Brasil Católico 1947, Juiz de Fora 1947, pp. 418 ff. Virginio Battezzati