Pope appoints Warangal priest as diocese’s fourth bishop

NEW DELHI (Indian Catholic News)— Pope Leo XIV has appointed a local priest and clergy of Warangal, until now diocesan administrator of Warangal, as bishop of the same diocese that has been vacant for over a year.

The appointment was announced May 9 by the Holy See Press Office, which said: “The Holy Father has appointed the Reverend Vijaya Paul Reddy Duggimpudi, of the clergy of Warangal, until now diocesan administrator of Warangal, as bishop of the same diocese.”

The 61-year-old bishop-elect becomes the fourth bishop of the Diocese of Warangal in the southern Indian state of Telangana, according to the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India.

“His appointment as Bishop marks a significant moment for the local Church in Telangana as he assumes the pastoral leadership of the Diocese,” the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India said in a statement.

Born on Jan. 8, 1965, in Manugonda in Warangal district, he studied philosophy and theology at St. John’s Major Seminary in Hyderabad from 1985 to 1987 and from 1988 to 1991. During the same period, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Osmania University and later completed a Master of Arts degree there.

He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Warangal on April 2, 1992.

Service across diocese

Over more than three decades of ministry, Bishop-elect Vijaya Paul Reddy served in pastoral, educational and administrative roles across several dioceses and institutions, reads a communiqué from the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India.

His assignments included assistant parish priest and hostel director at St. Joseph’s Church in Khammam, parish priest of Devagiripatnam Parish in Warangal, director and legal representative of Fatima College of Education in Warangal, and director of the Lodi Multipurpose Social Service Society.

From 2023 to 2026, he served as director of Christu Jyothi Institute of Technology and Science in Warangal.

Since April 5, 2025, he has served as diocesan administrator following the transfer of Archbishop Udumala Bala to the Archdiocese of Visakhapatnam.

The Diocese of Warangal was led first by PIME Bishop Alphonsus Beretta, an Italian missionary who became the founding bishop after the diocese was erected in 1952 and served until his retirement in 1985.

He was succeeded by Bishop Thumma Bala, who guided the diocese for nearly 25 years before being appointed Archbishop of Hyderabad in 2011.

The third bishop, Udumala Bala, was appointed in 2013 and later transferred as Archbishop of Visakhapatnam in 2025. With the appointment of Bishop-elect Duggimpudi, Warangal now receives its fourth bishop in more than seven decades of diocesan history.

The Diocese of Warangal was erected from the ecclesiastical territory of Hyderabad. It covers 24,702 square kilometres across the civil districts of Warangal and Karimnagar in Telangana.

The diocese serves 85,502 Catholics in 78 parishes, with 92 diocesan priests, 187 religious priests and 650 religious sisters.