The Catholic Eparchy of Gorakhpur was erected on the 19th of June 1984 by His Holiness Pope John Paul II through the Bull ?Ex quo Divinum Concilium?. Rev. Fr. Dominic Kokkat CST was appointed its first Bishop. It comprises of seven north eastern districts of the state of Uttar Pradesh viz. Gorakhpur, Deoria, Sant Kabirnagar, Basti, Kushinagar, Maharajganj and Siddharthnagar covering an area of 19070 sq. kms. It has a population of about 17.2 million, of which the Catholics number only 3232. The languages spoken in this part of the Gangetic plain are Hindi and Bhojpuri. It is situated 750 kms. South-east of Delhi, 225 kms. north of Varanasi and 275 kms. West of Lucknow, the capital city of the state of Uttar Pradesh.