Pope appoints archbishop to Hyderabad Archdiocese in India

By Vatican News

Pope Francis on Thursday appointed an archbishop to the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Hyderabad, in southern India’s Telengana state.  He transferred Bishop Anthony Poola of Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh state, to Hyderabad as archbishop.

His appointment comes after the Holy Father accepted the resignation of Archbishop Thumma Bala of Hyderabad, who reached the bishops’ canonical retirement age of 75 in April last year. Ordained a priest in December 1970 and appointed Bishop of Warangal in 1986, Archbishop Bala has headed the Archdiocese of Hyderabad for 9 years since 2011. 

Bishop Poola, 59, who will now head Hyderabad Archdiocese, was ordained a priest in February 1992 and appointed Bishop of Kurnool in February 2008. 

The ecclesiastical province of Hyderabad includes the suffragan dioceses of Adilabad, Cuddapah, Khammam, Kurnool, Nalgonda and Warangal.