By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi, May 1, 2019: Pope Francis on May 1 transferred Bishop Derek Fernandes of Karwar to Belgaum as its new prelate, according to a press note from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India headquarters in New Delhi.
The announcement was made at noon in Rome, and it corresponding time India (3:30 pm).
The diocese was without a head after Bishop Peter Machado was transferred to Bangalore as its archbishop in May 2018.
Bishop Fernandes was born on May 14, 1954, in Sirsi, Karnataka, in Belgaum diocese. He ordained a priest for Belgaum diocese on May 5, 1979. He has a doctorate in Canon Law from the Urbaniana University, Rome.
He was chancellor and procurator of Belgaum diocese during 1991-2002 and the diocesan administrator for two years from 2004. He was appointed Karwar bishop on February 24, 2007.
Belgaum diocese was erected in 1963 with Goa archdiocese’s Belgaum and North Karnataka civil districts and Pune diocese’a Dharwad and Bijapur districts.