Pope appoints Auxiliary Bishop in Delhi, India

By Robin Gomes

Pope Francis has appointed an Auxiliary Bishop in the Archdiocese of Delhi, the Indian capital.  He is Father Deepak Valerian Tauro from Muzaffarpur Diocese in eastern India’s Bihar state.  The 53-year-old native of southern India’s Karnataka state served as the Rector of St. Albert's College of Ranchi in Jharkhand state. 

Curriculum vitae

Father Deepak Valerian Tauro was born on August 2, 1967, in Chikmagalur, Karnataka. He completed his philosophy studies at the Morning Star Regional Seminary and College in Barrackpore, near Kolkata, West Bengal,(1986-1990) and, after two years of regency in the Diocese of Muzaffarpur (1990-1992), he studied theology at St. Albert's College in Ranchi (1992-1996). He received his Master's in Spirituality & Counseling from Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram in Bangalore (2002-2005).  He was ordained to the priesthood on May 10, 1996, for the Diocese of Muzaffarpur.

Thereafter, he was assigned the following responsibilities:  

- 1996-1997: Assistant parish priest in Samastipur

- 1997-1999: Assistant parish priest in Bettiah

- 1999-2002: Rector of the Minor Seminary of Muzaffarpur

- 2005-2007: Again rector of the Minor Seminary of Muzaffarpur

- 2007-2010: Secretary of the Bishop of Muzaffarpur

- 2007-2011:  Vice director of the Diocesan Youth Forum

- 2009-2011: Regional Secretary of Conference of Diocesan Priests of India for Bihar, Jharkhand & Andaman's Bishops' Council (BIJHAN)

- 2009-2011: Rector of the Minor Seminary of Muzaffarpur)

- 2011-2015: Lecturer and Spiritual Director of St. Albert's College, Ranchi 

Since 2012 - Secretary of Bihar, Jharkhand & Andaman's Bishops' Council (BIJHAN)

2015 to 2021 - Rector of St. Albert's College, Ranchi.

Delhi Archdiocese

The Archdiocese of Delhi, now headed by Archbishop Anil Couto, was established on June 4, 1959.  The Metropolitan Ecclesiastical Province of Delhi includes the three suffragan dioceses of Jammu-Srinagar, Jullundur, and Simla and Chandigarh.

There are some 100,300 Catholics in the archdiocese, who are spread across 61 parishes.  They are served by 132 diocesan priests, 157 religious priests and 413 women religious.

In the Catholic Church, every bishop should head a diocese.  Since an auxiliary bishop aids the diocesan bishop and does not head a diocese, he is assigned a titular see.  A titular see or diocese no longer exists, such as in Asia Minor and North Africa, where through centuries many dioceses became defunct and disappeared because of various reasons. 

Hence, with the appointment of Father Deepak Valerian Tauro as Auxiliary Bishop of Delhi, the Pope assigned him the See of Buleliana, a diocese that once existed in North Africa, probably in what is Tunisia today.  When Father Tauro will be consecrated bishop, he will be the only Auxiliary Bishop of Delhi Archdiocese.