Bangalore 15 October 2016: Pope Francis on Saturday 15 October 2016 appointed a bishop to the Diocese of Jowai in north-east India’s Meghalaya state. He transferred Bishop Victor Lyngdoh of Nongstoin to Jowai, both suffragans of Shillong Archdiocese. Most Rev. Victor Lyngdoh was born on 14 January 1956 in Wahlang, Archdiocese of Shillong, and was ordained priest on 25 January 1987. He was elected Bishop of Nongstoin on 28 January 2006 and ordained bishop on 2 April 2006.
Pope Benedict XVI erected the Diocese of Jowai in 2006, and appointed Father Vincent Kympat as its first bishop. Bishop Kympat died on 30July 2011, leaving the see vacant until Pope Francis on 3 February 2014, recalled Archbishop Emeritus Thomas Menamparampil of Guwahati from his retirement to be the Apostolic Administrator of Jowai. With the appointment of Bishop Victor Lyngdoh to Jowai, Archbishop Menamparampil, who served as the bishop of Dibrugarh for 11 years and the Archbishop of Guwahati for 20 years before his retirement on 18 January 2012, will resume his retired life.