Roman Catholic Diocese of Galle
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Diocese of Galle Dioecesis Gallensis காலி மாவட்ட |
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| Location | |
| Country |  Sri Lanka |
| Ecclesiastical province | Colombo |
| Metropolitan | Colombo |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 5,493 km2 (2,121 sq mi) |
| Population - Total - Catholics |
(as of 2006) 2,277,145 8,587 (0.4%) |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Cathedral | St. Mary's Cathedral, Galle |
| Patron saint | Blessed Virgin Mary |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Francis |
| Bishop | Raymond Kingsley Wickramasinghe |
| Metropolitan Archbishop | Malcolm Ranjith |
| Website | |
| Website of the Diocese | |
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Galle (Latin: Dioecesis Gallensis) is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in Sri Lanka.
Erected as the Diocese of Galle in 1893, the diocese is suffragan to the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Colombo. In 1995, part of the diocese was split off to form the Diocese of Ratnapura
The current bishop is Raymond Kingsley Wickramasinghe, appointed in 2011.
The Southern and Sabaragamuwa Provinces were part of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Colombo (1887) and, before, of the “Southern Vicarate of Ceylon” (1847). The diocese was established in 1893 and entrusted to the Belgian Jesuits who, the same year, had opened the Pontifical Seminary of Kandy under the direction of Fr Sylvain Grosjean. Apostolically linked to the new diocese the seminary was founded at the explicit request of pope Leo XIII.
The original Diocese of Galle comprised the Southern and Sabaragamuwa civil Provinces of Sri Lanka. As such it extended from the foot hills of Utuwankanda to the coastal parish of Hambantota, covering an area of 403,875 square miles (1,046,000 km2) of the most varied aspect from the point of view of scenery, population and pastoral engagements.
However, right back into the time of Blessed Joseph Vaz and his Oratorian disciples and still earlier in Portuguese times (mid 16th Century) stations in its coastal fringe as well as in its Ratnapura reaches are on record for Evangelization and advanced pastoral structure.
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