On Wednesday 10 September Pope Francis gathered the 3 dioceses in Timor-Leste into a new 'ecclesiastical province' with Dili now becoming an Archdiocese and the dioceses of Baucau and Maliana being suffragan dioceses. The bishop of Dili, Virgílio do Carmo da Silva was also made an archbishop.
The Diocese of Díli has an area of 4,775 sq km, covering 5 districts in the central part of East Timor. Out of a total of population of over 667,000, Catholics number more than 630,000 (94.4%), who are spread across 30 parishes. They are served by 149 priests, 132 men religious and 432 women religious.
