New Delhi: Pope Francis has transferred Bishop Victor Lyngdoh of Nongstoin to Jowai diocese as its new prelate.
Both the dioceses are in the Khasi region of Meghalaya, the northeastern Indian state.
The diocese of Jowai was being administered by Archbishop Thomas Menamparampil, Archbishop Emeritus of Guwahati, until now.
The Pope has appointed Archbishop Dominic Jala of Shillong as the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Nongstoin.
These announcements were made at noon time on October 15 in Rome, and its corresponding time in India, said a press note from Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, secretary general of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India.
Bishop Lyngdoh was born on January 14, 1956 at Wahlang, a parish of Archdiocese of Shillong. He was ordained a priest on January 25, 1987. He was elected Bishop of Nongstoin on January 28, 2006, and consecrated on April 2, the same year.
The Diocese of Jowai, a suffragan of Shillong archdiocese, is located in the city of Jowai.
The 3, 819-square-kilometer diocesan territory covers the district of Jaintia Hills in Meghalaya.
The diocese was erected on January 28, 2006, by Pope Benedict XVI, and Father Vincent Kympat was appointed its first bishop. He was ordained on April 2, 2006 by then Apostolic Nuncio to India, Archbishop Pedro Lopez Quintana.
He died suddenly on June 30, 2011.
Archbishop Menamparampil was appointed administrator on February 3, 2014.