Catholic Intelligence

Diocese of Cochin

Coccinen(sis)

The Diocese of Cochin is a Latin Church diocese in Kerala, India, one of the oldest in the country, suffragan to the Archdiocese of Verapoly. Bishop Antony Kattiparambil was appointed in October 2025.

The see

Rank
Suffragan diocese
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
4 February 1558
Latin
Coccinen(sis)
Patron
Holy Cross and Saint Francis Xavier
Annuario code
001001186

The see in figures

Catholics
182,324
Population
625,500
Catholic share
29.1%

of the people living within its bounds

Priests
166
Catholics per priest
1,098
Extent
236 km²
Catholics per km²
773

Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.

The bishop

Bishop
Antony Kattiparambil
Born
14 October 1970
Birthplace
Mundamveli

A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.

The cathedral

Santa Cruz Cathedral Basilica, Fort Kochi stands in Cochin, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.

On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.

The province of Verapoly

A suffragan of Archdiocese of Verapoly.

The sees of this province:

On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.

History

Portuguese-speaking missionaries dominated the region when, in 1557, the Diocese of Cochin was established in Cochin, Kerala, India. A constituent of the sui iuris Latin Church, the see (Latin: Diœcesis Coccinensis) holds suffragan rank within the ecclesiastical province headed by the metropolitan Archdiocese of Verapoly.

What is kept by invitation

The record above is published because it is public: what this see is, when it was erected, who holds its chair, and where it stands among its neighbours.

The working record is not. The chancery's address, telephone and email, the clergy of the see, and the hours of Mass, confession and adoration in the parishes within it are kept for members, and a person reads every request.

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Sources

The see's own website · Wikipedia

This record is compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. On the method, see the keeping of the record. Whoever finds an error is asked, in charity, to write: [email protected].