Pope Francis on Thursday transferred Bishop Raphy Manjaly of Varanasi as the
bishop of Allahabad diocese, which was vacant after its bishop resigned
early this year.Bishop Raphy Manjaly, 55, has served the Varanasi diocese as bishop since April 2007.
In January this year Vatican's intervention resulted in Bishop Isidore Fernandes of Allahabad resigning after he joined some protestant bishops in consecrating and installing Dr. Rajendra B. Lal as the first bishop of independent "Yeshu Darbar" church on Nov. 4, 2012.
Bishop Raphy Manjaly was born on February 7, 1958. He was ordained a priest on May 11, 1983 and appointed the bishop of Varanasi on April 30, 2007. He succeeded Bishop Patrick Paul D'Souza.
Allahabad Diocese is considered to be one of the geographically largest dioceses in the world and comprises of 12 civil districts of the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.