Archbishop of Visakhapatnam
Archbishop Udumala Bala Showreddy, Archbishop of Visakhapatnam, was born on June 18, 1954, in Ghanpur, Gudur, in the Diocese of Warangal, Andhra Pradesh. He began his primary studies in his native village of Gudur and completed high school at St. Gabriel High School, Warangal. He obtained a diploma in Telugu and a degree in arts from Osmania University, and was subsequently admitted to St. Pius X Minor Seminary at Fatimanagar and St. John's Regional Seminary at Ramanthapur, Hyderabad. He was ordained a priest for Warangal on February 20, 1979. He then served as parochial vicar at Dornakal (1979-1980); parish priest at Produtur (1980-1984), at Ravi Nuthala (1984-1985) and at Cherumadaram (1985-1986); financial administrator and chancellor of the diocese (1986-1987); procurator and teacher of catechetics at St. John's Regional Seminary, Hyderabad (1987-1990); a student at the Alphonsian Academy in Rome, where he obtained a doctorate in moral theology (1990-1994); professor of moral theology at St. John's Regional Seminary, Hyderabad (1994-1997); and rector of the same seminary (1997-2006). From 2006 he served as deputy secretary of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India in Bangalore. On April 13, 2013, he was appointed Bishop of Warangal. He received episcopal ordination on May 23, 2013, at Kazipet, with Oswald Gracias as principal consecrator and Salvatore Pennacchio and Thumma Bala as co-consecrators. On August 27, 2022, he was appointed Apostolic Administrator of Khammam, ceasing to hold that office on April 9, 2024. On February 8, 2025, he was appointed Archbishop of Visakhapatnam, and he was installed on April 3, 2025.