Diocese of Guntur

The Diocese of Guntur was erected on 23 February 1940 when the civil district of Guntur was separated from the Diocese of Nellore, with Msgr. Thomas Pothacamury appointed as its first bishop. The roots of Telugu Catholicism in the region go back to 1699 during the Carnatic Mission of the French Jesuits, later continued by the Paris Mission Society after the suppression of the Jesuits in 1773, and further strengthened under Bishop Bonnand; in 1834 the Telugu districts were attached to the Vicariate of Madras, successively served by Irish priests and the Mill Hill Fathers until the diocese was constituted and entrusted to indigenous clergy. Initially corresponding to the civil district of Guntur, the diocese underwent territorial adjustments after the formation of Prakasam district in 1970, and in 1977, by a decree of Propaganda Fide, all taluks of Prakasam were transferred to the Diocese of Nellore except Addanki Taluk, which remains with the Diocese of Guntur.