Eparchy of Rajkot
Raikoten(sis)
Suffragan eparchy · Syro-Malabar Church · Rajkot, India
Syro-Malabar Catholic eparchy serving the Saurashtra and Kutch regions of Gujarat, India, erected in 1977 by Pope Paul VI's bull De recta fidelium, separated from the Diocese of Ahmedabad. Its seat is the Sacred Heart Syro-Malabar Cathedral in Rajkot; since August 2025 it belongs to the province of the Archeparchy of Kalyan. Catholics number about 13,000 (2010).
The see
- Rank
- Suffragan eparchy
- Tradition
- Syro-Malabar Church
- Erected
- 26 February 1977
- Latin
- Raikoten(sis)
- Patron
- Sacred Heart of Jesus
- Annuario code
- 001002716
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 13,000
- Population
- 16,025,000
- Catholic share
- 0.1%
- Priests
- 133
- Catholics per priest
- 98
- Extent
- 109,950 km²
- Catholics per km²
- 0.1
of the people living within its bounds
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
- Eparch
- Mar Jose Chittooparambil, CMI
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
Sacred Heart Syro-Malabar Cathedral, Rajkot stands in Rajkot, 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 Kalyan (Syro-Malabar)
A suffragan of Archeparchy of Kalyan.
On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.
History
In 1977, Pope Paul VI's Bull De recta fidelium carved a new Eastern Catholic eparchy out of the Diocese of Ahmedabad: the Eparchy of Rajkot, in Gujarat, India, belonging to the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. Sacred Heart Syro-Malabar Cathedral, Rajkot serves as its cathedral. By decree of the Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malabar Church effective 28 August 2025, it became a suffragan eparchy of the Syro-Malabar Archeparchy of Kalyan.
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.
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].