New Delhi, 22 December 2014: His Holiness Pope Francis has erected the new Diocese of Kuzhithurai in Tamilnadu, India, bifurcated from the Diocese of Kottar, making it suffragan of the Archdiocese of Madurai. This Ecclesiastical Provision was made public in Rome on Monday, 22nd December, 2014, at noon local time, corresponding to 16:30hours, Indian Standard Time. The Church of the Most Holy Trinity at Thirithuvapuram, Kuzhithurai, Kanyakumari District, will become the Cathedral of the new Diocese. The new diocese of Kuzhithurai has around 100 parishes and a Catholic population of around 260,000. The diocese is surrounded by the dioceses of Palayamkottai on the North and northeast, Kottar on the East and Trivandrum and Neyyatinkara on the West and the Indian Ocean in the South and South-West. The number of the Catholic diocese in India became 131 and Bishops in CCBI is 177.
2014-12-24