Territory Saurashtra and Kutch Rite East Syrian Rite Area 109,950 km² Major archbishop George Alencherry | Metropolitan Gandhinagar Patron saint Sacred Heart of Jesus Country India | |
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Population
- Total
- Catholics (as of 2010)
16,025,000
13,000 (0.1%) Denomination Syro-Malabar Catholic Church Cathedral Sacred Heart Cathedral, Rajkot Ecclesiastical province Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Gandhinagar Bishop Mar Jose Chittooparambil CMI Emeritus Bishops Mar Gregory Karotemprel Bishop Emeritus (1983-2010) | ||
The Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy of Rajkot is an Eastern Catholic eparchy in India under the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. It was created by Pope Paul VI's Bull "De recta fidelium" in 1977, separating it from the Diocese of Ahmedabad. Its cathedral is Sacred Heart Syro-Malabar Cathedral, Rajkot.
Contents
History
On 16 July 2010, Pope Benedict XVI named Mar Jose Chittooparambil as the bishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic eparchy of Rajkot. The bishop-elect was born in 1954 in Neeleswaram, India, was ordained to the priesthood in 1985, and is currently Prior General of St. Xavier's Province in Rajkot. He succeeds bishop Mar Gregory Karotemprel, whose resignation the Pope accepted upon having reached the age limit. (All bishops of local churches, or dioceses, whose wider churches are in communion with the Pope, must submit their resignation for possible acceptance at age 75, though the resignations are usually only accepted later.)