Roman Catholic Diocese of Kuzhithurai


The Roman Catholic Diocese of Kuzhithurai is a diocese located in Tamil Nadu. It was erected on 22 December 2014 by Pope Francis with territory taken from the Diocese of Kottar. He appointed Fr. Jerome Dhas Varuvel as the first bishop of the diocese.
Due to health reasons Bishop Jerome submitted his resignation to Pope Francis which was accepted on 6 June 2020. Simultaneously, Pope Francis appointed the Metropolitan Archbishop of Madurai, Antony Pappusamy, as Apostolic Administrator of the diocese of Kuzhithurai.
Bifurcation of the diocese of Kottar had been a long-standing demand of the people of the region. 100 Parishes from Thiruthuvapuram and Mulagumoodu vicariates of Kottar diocese were put under the administrative control of Kuzhithurai diocese. Prior to this bifurcation, Kottar diocese had been one of the largest in India with over 500000 Catholics.

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