Roman Catholic Diocese of Kandy
The Diocese of Kandy is a suffragan diocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archbishopric of Colombo, but depends on the missionary Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
The episcopal seat is St. Anthony’s Cathedral, in Kandy. The current bishop is Valence Mendis, appointed in 2021.
Statistics
As of 2014, it pastorally served 81,293 Catholics on 5,733 km2 in 27 parishes and 2 missions with 51 priests, 329 lay religious and 15 seminarians.History
- Originally erected on 20 April 1883 as the Apostolic vicariate of Kandy, on territory split off from the then diocese of Colombo
- Promoted to Diocese of Kandy on 1 September 1886, as a suffragan of the simultaneously elevated Archdiocese of Colombo.
- On 18 December 1972, part of the diocese was split off to form the Roman [Catholic Diocese of Badulla|Diocese of Badulla].
Episcopal ordinaries
;Apostolic Vicars of Kandy- Clemente Pagnani, Sylvestrines , Titular Bishop of Hephæstum, first as Bishop of Colombo
- Clemente Pagnani, O.S.B.Silv.
- Bede Beekmeyer, O.S.B.Silv.
- Bernardo Regno, O.S.B.Silv., stayed on a while as Apostolic Administrator of Kandy, during emeritate as Titular Bishop of Bagai, died 1977
- Leo Nanayakkara, O.S.B.Silv., next Bishop of Badulla
- Appasinghe Paul Perera
- Joseph Vianney Fernando, also President of Bishops’ Conference of Sri Lanka
- Valence Mendis