Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dhaka


The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dhaka is the Latin, main Metropolitan Metropolitan diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Bangladesh, but no longer the only one. It still depends on the missionary Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
The archdiocese's Marian mother church and thus seat of its archbishop is St. Mary's Cathedral in the national capital Dhaka. As senior Metropolitan in Bangladesh, it is the principal episcopal see of that country. the Archbishop of Dhaka is Cardinal Patrick D'Rozario, formerly Bishop of Chittagong, having been appointed Coadjutor Archbishop by Pope Benedict XVI on November 2010, and succeeded Archbishop Paulinus Costa in October 2011.

Ecclesiastical province

Its ecclesiastical province still has as suffragan sees
On 2 February 2017, it lost as suffragans the henceforth Metropolitan new Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chittagong and both its simultaneously transferred suffragan sees: Roman Catholic Diocese of Barisal and Roman Catholic Diocese of Khulna.

History

It was erected it as the Apostolic Vicariate of Eastern Bengal by Pope Pius IX on 12 February 1850.
It was promoted as Diocese of Eastern Bengal on 1 September 1886, and renamed as the Diocese of Dacca after its see in 1887.
On 25 May 1927 it lost territory to establish the Diocese of Chittagong, as its suffragan, but since 2017 itself a Metropolitan.
It was elevated to Metropolitan Archdiocese of Dacca by Pope Pius XII on 15 July 1950,
On 17 January 1952 it lost territory to establish the Apostolic Prefecture of Haflong.
It enjoyed its papal visit, from Pope Paul VI, in November 1970.
Pope John Paul II renamed it as the Archdiocese of Dhaka on 19 October 1982.
It enjoyed a second papal visit from Pope John Paul II in November 1986.
It lost territory on 15 May 1987 to establish the Diocese of Mymensingh and on 8 July 2011 again to establish the Diocese of Sylhet, as its suffragans.

Bishops

Ordinaries

Apostolic Vicars of Eastern Bengal

As per 2014, it pastorally served 64,960 Catholics on 12,000 km² in 18 parishes and 14 missions with 115 priests, 695 lay religious and 17 seminarians.
YearCatholicsDiocesean priestParishes
200070,8214219
201562,7805218