Derek Fernandes is the 6th current serving

Roman Catholic Diocese of Belgaum The Roman Catholic Diocese of Belgaum () is a diocese located in the city of Belgaum in the ecclesiastical province of Bangalore in India. History The Belgaum Diocese was erected on 19 September 1953 by the papal bull ''Summa illa Sollicitudo' ...

. and was the

Apostolic Administrator An apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...

of Karwar

His additional responsibility as Apostolic Administrator of Karwar was completed after Duming Dias was appointed as Bishop of Karwar by

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

Life

He was born in Sirsi on 14 May 1954

Priesthood

He was ordained a priest on 5 May 1979.

Episcopate

On 24 February 2007,

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

named Fernandes Bishop of

Karwar Karwar is a coastal City and the administrative headquarters of Uttara Kannada district, formerly part of the Bombay Presidency, located at the mouth of the Kali River (Karnataka), Kali river along the Konkan Coast in the present-day state of Ka ...

, and he was consecrated as a bishop on 20 April 2007. On 01 May 2019,

appointed him as the 6th Bishop of

Belgaum Belgaum (Kannada ISO 15919, ISO: ''Bēḷagāma'', ), officially known as Belagavi (also Belgaon), is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka located near its northern western border in the Western Ghats. It is the administrative headquarters ...

References

1954 births 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in India Living people {{India-RC-bishop-stub Bishops appointed by Pope Benedict XVI