 Catholic Church in India | |
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 Mylapore's Santhome Basilica at Madras (Chennai), built in 1523 by the Portuguese in Goa and Bombay, over the tomb of Thomas the Apostle. Renovated in 1896 by British Indian architects, it is an important shrine of the Apostolic age in the world. | |
| Type | Christian denomination |
| Classification | Catholic |
| Orientation | Eastern, Latin |
| Scripture | Catholic Bible |
| Theology | Catholic theology |
| Polity | Episcopal polity |
| Governance | CBCI |
| Pope | Francis |
| President of bishops' conference | Andrews Thazhath |
| Region | India |
| Language | Multiple |
| Headquarters | New Delhi |
| Founder | Thomas the Apostle |
| Origin | AD 52 (1972 years ago) |
| Members | 20 million (1.55%) |
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The Catholic Church in India is part of the worldwide Catholic Church under the leadership of the Pope. There are over 20 million Catholics in India,[1] representing around 1.55% of the total population,[2] and the Catholic Church is the single largest Christian church in India.[1] There are 10,701 parishes that make up 174 dioceses and eparchies, which are organised into 29 ecclesiastical provinces. Of these, 132 dioceses are of the Latin Church, 31 of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church and 11 of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church. Despite the very small population that Indian Catholics make up percentage wise, India still has the second-largest Christian population in Asia after the Catholic Church in the Philippines.
All Catholic bishops from all dioceses, come together to form the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, first convened in British India, 1944.[3] The Vatican City's representative ambassador to the government of India is the Apostolic Nuncio to India. The diplomatic mission of the Holy See to India, similar to an embassy, was established as the Apostolic delegation to the East Indies in 1881. It was raised to an Internunciature by Pope Pius XII in 1948, and to a full Apostolic Nunciature by Pope Paul VI in 1967. Archbishop Leopoldo Girelli is the current Apostolic Nuncio named by Pope Francis on 13 March 2021. The Nunciature is located at 50-C, Niti Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi.
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- ^ a b Factfile: Catholics around the world on BBC news.
- ^ "Statistics by Country". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
- ^ Catholic Bishops Conference of India on CBCI website.