Archdiocese of Shamshabad
Shamshabaden(sis)
Metropolitan see · Syro-Malabar Church · Shamshabad, India
Syro-Malabar archeparchy based at Shamshabad near Hyderabad, erected as an eparchy on 10 October 2017 for Syro-Malabar faithful across much of India outside Kerala, and elevated to a metropolitan archeparchy on 28 August 2025. Its seat is St Alphonsa Cathedral at Kukatpally, Hyderabad.
The see
- Rank
- Metropolitan see
- Tradition
- Syro-Malabar Church
- Erected
- 10 October 2017
- Latin
- Shamshabaden(sis)
- Patron
- Mar Thoma Sliha (St Thomas the Apostle)
- Annuario code
- 001005079
The see in figures
- Catholics
- 123,735
- Population
- 2,022
- Priests
- 72
- Catholics per priest
- 1,719
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
- Archbishop
- Mar Antony Prince Panengaden
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
St Alphonsa Cathedral, Kukatpally, Hyderabad stands in Shamshabad, 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 Shamshabad
This see is the metropolitan of its province.
The sees of this province:
- Eparchy of AdilabadAdilabad
On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.
History
Based in Telangana, India, Shamshabad is an archeparchy of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church. Pope Francis erected it as an eparchy on 10 October 2017 and named Mar Raphael Thattil its first eparch. Writing to the bishops of India, Francis pointed to the country's decades of experience with "overlapping jurisdictions" among different sui iuris churches, adding: "With the growth of spiritual friendship and mutual assistance, any tension or apprehension should be swiftly overcome.
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].