Media Release

Visakhapatnam, Feb 27: Kagithapu Mariadas (81), archbishop emeritus of Visakhapatnam passed away on Monday, February 26 at 2.30 pm at St Joseph’s Hospital here. The funeral will be held on February 28 at 10 am, at St Peter’s Cathedral, Gnanapuram Visakhapatnam. For last five years, he was staying at Jubilee Home. He was ill for the last two months and getting treated at St Joseph’s Hospital.

Archbishop Kagithapu Mariadas was born on September 7, 1936 in Gnanapuram in Visakhapatnam diocese. He was ordained a priest on June 10, 1961 in the Congregation of Missionaries of Francis de Sales. His Holiness Pope Paul VI appointed him as the fourth Bishop of Guntur on December 19, 1974 and ordained as Bishop on May 5, 1977 by Cardinal Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy. Pope St John Paul II appointed him as the bishop of Visakhapatnam on September 10, 1982 and was installed on January 26, 1983.

With the elevation to the archdiocese on October 16, 2001 he was appointed archbishop of Visakhapatnam. Before becoming a prelate, Archbishop Mariadas was a professor at St Peter's Seminary in Bengaluru. On July 3, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI accepted his resignation from the pastoral care of the archdiocese of Visakhapatnam. He is a priest for 56 years and a bishop for 40 years.