The Eparchy of Shamshabad is a Syro-Malabar Church eparchy of the Catholic Church in Telangana, India. It was established by Pope Francis on 10 October 2017, and Raphael Thattil was appointed its first bishop.[6] In a letter to the bishops of India, Francis cited India's decades of experience with "overlapping jurisdictions" of different sui iuris churches. He wrote: "With the growth of spiritual friendship and mutual assistance, any tension or apprehension should be swiftly overcome. May this extension of the pastoral area of the Syro-Malabar Church in no way be perceived as a growth in power and domination, but as a call to deeper communion, which should never be perceived as uniformity."[7]
Syro-Malabar Eparchy of Shamshabad Eparchia Shamshabadensis | |
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Catholic | |
Location | |
Country | India |
Territory | Covers 23 states and 4 union territories including 2 islands[1] |
Metropolitan | Major Archeparchy of Ernakulam-Angamaly |
Statistics | |
Population - Catholics | (as of 2022) 123,735[a] |
Parishes | 37 parishes, 69 missions[2] |
Churches | 11 functional, 7 under construction, as of 2017[citation needed][needs update] |
Information | |
Denomination | Catholic Church |
Sui iuris church | Syro-Malabar Church |
Rite | East Syriac Rite[3] |
Established | 10 October 2017 |
Cathedral | St. Alphonsa Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Kukatpally |
Patron saint |
|
Secular priests | 72 (52 diocesan, 20 religious)[a] |
Current leadership | |
Pope | Francis |
Major Archbishop | Raphael Thattil |
Archiepiscopal Administrator | Joseph Kollamparambil[2] |
Metropolitan Archbishop | Raphael Thattil |
Auxiliary Bishops | |
Map | |
Website | |
shamshabaddiocese |
The new jurisdiction was inaugurated with Thattil's installation on 7 January 2018.[8] The cathedral is the St. Alphonsa Syro-Malabar Catholic Church at Kukatpally, in Greater Hyderabad.
There are 130,000 Catholics in the Shamshabad diocese with eleven functional churches and seven under construction.[9]