By 1927 the Ranchi Mission had developed to such an extent that by decree of the
Holy See, dated 25 May 1927, it was separated from the
Calcutta Archdiocese to form a new Diocese with Ranchi as its Episcopal seat and Msgr.
Louis Van Hoeck, sj, as the first bishop. He was succeeded by Rt. Rev.
Oscar Sevrin sj, in 1934, who was pastor for 18 years (1934 - 1952). As the faith spread and took firm root in Chotanagpur, the
Catholic Church was being built up and developed, especially through parishes and schools. Soon the rapid growth of the mission made it imperative to call in other labourers, the S.V.D. Fathers, the Australian and American Jesuits. For better pastoral care of the faithful, the vast Archdiocese of Ranchi was divided and on 14 June 1951, the Diocese of Sambalpur gave birth to Rourkela Diocese on 4 July 1979 and Ambikapur became a separate diocese on 14 December 1977. On 19 September 1953, the Diocese of Ranchi was raised to the status of an Archdiocese with Sambalpur and Cuttack as its suffragans. On 2 July 1962, the Diocese of Jamshedpur was created. Then in 1968, the Diocese of Patna and Bhagalpur and the Prefecture of Balasore were made suffragans of Ranchi Archdiocese. Again on 5 June 1971 the Diocese of Daltonganj, comprising the civil districts of Hazaribagh (which itself became a diocese on 12 May 1995), and Palamau was carved out of the Archdiocese of Ranchi. In 1980, Muzaffarpur Diocese was formed from a part of Patna Diocese and made suffragan of Ranchi. The Andamans and Nicobar Islands, became part of Ranchi in 1947, and were since 1966 under the care of the Pilar Fathers, and became a new Diocese on 26 June 1984. On 1 July 1993, two new Dioceses, Gumla and Simdega, were established with territories taken from the Ranchi Archdiocese. On 12 May 1995 the new Diocese of Khunti was established with territories taken from the Archdiocese of Ranchi. It comprises the whole Khunti civil Sub-division. In 1998 two more new Dioceses were created, North of the Ganges, and made suffragans of Ranchi, Bettiah and Purnea. Thus the original Ranchi Diocese divided into 14 Dioceses including the present Archdiocese of Ranchi. On 16 March 1999 the Ranchi Ecclesiastical Province was bifurcated in anticipation of the creation of Jharkhand. Patna, Capital of Bihar, became an Archdiocese with four suffragans: Bettiah, Bhagalpur, Muzaffarpur and Purnea. The dioceses
Daltonganj,
Dumka,
Gumla,
Hazaribag,
Jamshedpur,
Khunti,
Port Blair and
Simdega are suffragans of the archdiocese. ==Archbishops of Ranchi==