The current archbishop of Colombo, appointed by Pope Benedict XVI on 16 June 2009, is Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith. He is assisted in this role by the auxiliary bishops.
As of 2014, it pastorally served 637,729 Catholics (8.8% of 7,281,000 total) on 3,838km2 in 128 parishes with 592 priests (313 diocesan, 279 religious), 1,560 lay religious (380 brothers, 1,180 sisters) and 292 seminarians.[1]
Renamed as the Diocese of Colombo on February 17, 1845, having lost territory to establish the then Apostolic Vicariate of Jaffna (now a suffragan diocese).
It lost territory on April 20, 1883, to establish the then Apostolic Vicariate of Kandy (now its suffragan diocese)
Pope Leo XIII elevated it to Metropolitan Archdiocese of Colombo on September 1, 1886.
Its name was changed by Pope Pius XII to the Archdiocese of Colombo in Ceylon on December 6, 1944, but was returned to simply the Archdiocese of Colombo on May 22, 1972 by Pope Paul VI.
Over time the Catholic community of the area had been growing, and a Fr. James initiated a process in 1934 to construct the existing church. In 1937, a proposal was made to Fr. Giwdan, the parish priest of Bambalapitiya, to lay a foundation for a Catholic church. The bishop gave his permission, and as a result the temporary structure was built and dedicated to St. Theresa.
In 1951, construction started and in 1952 Archbishop Thomas Cooray has handed over the church to Dominican fathers. It was completed and consecrated on 7 October 1961 by Archbishop Thomas Cooray.
