By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi, Dec. 12, 2018: Pope Francis on December 12 accepted the resignation of Bishop Addagatla Innayya Chinna of Srikakulam, a diocese in Andhra Pradesh state.
A press note from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India thanked Bishop Innaya for his dedicated services to the Church in India, especially in Srikakulam diocese.
Bishop Innaya was born May 2, 1937, in Ravipadu, a village in the Pedanandipadu mandal, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh.
He was ordained a priest on January 4, 1965.
He was appointed as the bishop of Nalgonda, another diocese in Andhra Pradesh, on April 17, 1989. Later he was transferred to Srikakulam as its first prelate on June 29, 1989.
He was the chairman of the Education Commission in Andhra Pradesh Bishops’ Council.
The diocese of Srikakulam covers the civil district of Srikakulam and Kurupam, Parvathipuram, Cheepurupalli and Gummalakshmipuram counties of Vizianagaram district. Srikakulam and Parvathipuram, Palankonde, Rajam are other important towns in the diocese spread over a land area of 8,734 square kilometres.
The diocese was erected in 1993 bifurcating it from Visakhapatnam diocese (now an archdiocese).
Srikakulam is the second largest district in Andhra Pradesh state with the highest concentration of the Scheduled Tribes such as Savaras, Jatapus, Gadabas and Kons.