13 May 2015, Delhi: Pope Francis has appointed Fr. Ambrose Rebello the new Bishop of Aurangabad diocese on 13 May 2015. He has been serving as the Chancellor and Vicar General of the same diocese. The Pope accepted the resignation of Bishop Edwin Colaco of Aurangabad on attaining the retirement age.
Bishop-elect Rebello was born in 1949 in Nirmal in the Diocese of Amravati, now part of the diocese of Aurangabad. After his vocational experience with the Dominicans, he studied Philosophy and Theology at St. Charles Regional Seminary, Nagpur, as a seminarian of Amravati. He was ordained a priest on 22 April 1979 for the new Diocese of Aurangabad.
From 1979 to 2008, he has served in the parishes of Malighogargaon, Borsar, Ragunathnagar, and Purna. Since 2008, he is the parish priest of Karuna Matha Mandir Parish, Vaijapoor. Since 2011, he has been the Vicar General of Aurangabad, Director of the Diocesan Pastoral Centre, Vice Chancellor and Director of the Education Society of the Diocese of Aurangabad.
The Diocese of Aurangabad was erected on 17 December 1977as suffragan of the Archdiocese of Nagpur. It has an area of 64,525 square kilometers and a population of 10,119,485 inhabitants, of whom 15,750 are Catholics. There are 34 parishes, served by 45 priests (23 diocesan and 22 religious), 27 religious brothers, 191 nuns and three seminarians.