Diocese of Faridabad
Syro-Malabar Catholic Eparchy
His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has erected the new Diocese of Faridabad of the Syro-Malabars (India), and has appointed, as it’s first Eparchial Bishop Mar Kuriakose Bharanikulangara, conferring on him the title of Archbishop ad personam. This provision was made public in Rome, on Tuesday, 6th March, 2012, at noon local time, corresponding to 16.
30 hours, Indian Standard Time. The proper territory of the Syro-Malabar Church comprises the Eparchies in Kerala and some areas of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Of these, it is only the Eparchy of Kalyan that functions with multiple jurisdictions in the territory of the Latin dioceses of that region. Faridabad also will be an Eparchy of the same nature. This is the 16th Diocese erected outside Kerala for Syro-Malabar Catholics. The new Diocese of Faridabad comprises the National Capital Territory of Delhi, the States of Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu-Kashmir as well as the Districts of Gautam Buddh Nagar and Ghaziabad that belong to the State of Uttar Pradesh. The new diocese has 9.50 lakh square kilometers of area. The new Bishop is taking charge of the pastoral care of about 1.5 lakh of Syro-Malabar Catholics in this area.
