BELLARY, MAR 13: Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Most Rev. Thumma Bala, till now Bishop of Warangal, as the Archbishop of Hyderabad to succeed late Archbishop Marampudi Joji who had passed away in August 2010.
This ecclesiastical provision was made public in Rome on Saturday 12 March 2011, at noon local time, corresponding to 16:30 hours, Indian Standard Time.
Bishop Thumma Bala was ordained a Bishop on March 12, 1987 at Fatima Cathedral, Warangal. He took over the diocese as the 2nd Bishop of Warangal succeeding Bishop Alphonsus Beretta, an Italian PIME missionary. Indeed it is a silver jubilee year gift to him as he entered his 25th year of Episcopacy on March 12. He is now asked to be the Metropolitan Prelate of Hyderabad, the mother diocese of Warangal, which was created in 1952.
The Bellary diocese congratulates and wishes the new Archbishop, Thumma Bala fruitful ministry in the Archdiocese and for the Ecclesiastical Region of Andhra Pradesh.
The Shrine of Bellary Arogya Mathe was blessed and dedicated on 8th September 2000 on the feast of the Nativity of our Blessed Mother Mary in memory of the great jubilee 2000 and the Golden Jubilee of the Diocese of Bellary