Today the Diocese of Naval covers a land area of 1,170 square kilometers, with a population of 218,708 of which 92 per cent are Catholics.  It consists of 3 vicariates, 13 parishes manned by 24 priests and 1 deacon under 1 bishop.

The programs and services implemented in the parishes of the diocese are in continuance of those of the Archdiocese of Palo.  These programs are geared toward the formation of Basic Ecclesial Communities, with the decrees and statutes of the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines as implementing guidelines.

The BEC's today number 13, one for each parish.  The diocese also has 9 religious sisters working in the area.  Among its 3 Catholic institutions is the Cathedral School of La Naval and a diocesan high school.

The Diocese of Naval is among the newest dioceses in the Philippines today.  It was created on November 29, 1988, sliced off the mother diocese of Palo in the province of Leyte.  It comprises the entire island of Biliran and four municipalities at the northwestern tip of the island of Leyte. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Palo.

The island of Biliran is a sub-province of Leyte, situated off its northwestern coast, bounded on the north and northeast by the Samar Sea, on the west by the Visayan Sea, and on the south by Casiguran Bay.  The island is characterized by rolling hills, and its town-parishes along the shorelines are forever bathed by the sapphire-blue waters of the surrounding seas.

In historical significance, the sub-province of Biliran shares much with the island province of Leyte and Samar:  the landing of the first Spanish expedition of Magellan in 1521; the early Christianization by the Augustinians and the Franciscans; and the landing of General Douglas MacArthur to fulfill his pledge to return to the Philippines.

Some of the parishes in Leyte, including those of Biliran, were founded almost two centuries ago.  That of the town of Leyte was established in 1800, Biliran in 1828, Naval itself in 1843.  These were all taken over by the diocesan clergy when the Spanish priests had to leave the country during the Philippine Revolution of 1896.

Ecclesiastically, Leyte was originally under the jurisdiction of Cebu until 1910.  From 1910 to 1937 it fell under the jurisdiction of the diocese of Calbayog (Samar).  In 1937 Leyte was separated into the new Diocese of Palo.  And in 1988, Naval was separated from the now Archdiocese of Palo, whose population had grown to over a million and a half.