Option for the poor and the marginalized is the only mission of the Syro-Malabar Church in India, asserted Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil while inaugurating the silver jubilee celebration of Belthangady diocese in Karnataka.
Belthangady is the first Syro-Malabar diocese in the southern Indian state, created in 1999, that caters to the migrated Catholics from Kerala. It is spread over in Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Chikmagaluru, and Shimoga districts.