The Syro-Malabar Catholic Church on Sunday marked a historic moment with the inauguration of the Shamshabad Diocese here with pan-India jurisdiction, excluding the existing 30 dioceses, which the Latin Church had taken over in 1886.
The diocese has jurisdiction over all the Syro-Malabar Christians in 23 states and two Union territories, excluding those in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and in the jurisdictions of the Kalyan and Faridabad dioceses, making it the largest in the country, the officials of the new diocese said.
Major Archbishop Cardinal George Alencherry, the head of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, formally dedicated the diocese to the Vatican with the installation of Raphael Thattil as its first bishop.
The Diocese of Shamshabad in Hyderabad is the 31st for the Kerala-based church and also the largest in the country with administrative control across 24 states, including the entire Eastern and Northeastern regions, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, four Union Territories and all those areas which are not governed by the 14 dioceses outside Kerala.
The new bishop Thattil will serve 1,30,000 faithful spread across 100 cities in the country and has 11 functional churches and seven under construction with around 90 priests and a few hundred nuns.
