Vasai Diocese gets new head

Archbishop Dr Felix Machado,the Bishop of Nashik,will take over as the head of the Vasai Diocese on Saturday in a ceremony expected to be attended by thousands of Catholics. His appointment,replacing Dr Thomas Dabre,was announced by Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican last month. Vasai in Thane district is a significant centre for Christianity in India as it arrived here with Saint Bartholomew in the first century. The Vasai Diocese is today made of 33 parishes and 62 mission stations in 10 talukas of Thane district.