Overview of the history and role of the Catholic Church in India
Catholic Church in India
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%)
Part of a series on the
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Catholicism portal
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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.
Part of a series on
Christianity in India
Communities
Bengali Christians
Bettiah Christians
Bombay East Indians
Marathi Christians
Meitei Christians
Mizo Christians
Naga Christians
Punjabi Christians
Saint Thomas Christians
Tamil Christians
Telugu Christians
People
Saint Thomas the Apostle
Saint Alphonsa
Saint Francis Xavier
Saint Gonsalo Garcia
Saint Euphrasia Eluvathingal
Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara
Saint Mother Teresa
Bl.Devasahayam Pillai
Mar Sabor and Mar Proth
Mar Baselios Eldho
Paremmakkal Thoma Kathanar
Thomas of Cana
Ignatius Elias III
Mar Gregorios of Parumala
Mar Varghese Payyappilly Palakkappilly
Mar Joseph C. Panjikaran
Mathews Mar Athanasius Metropolitan
Mar Geevarghese Dionysius
Abraham Malpan
Giuseppe Maria Bernini
Sadhu Sundar Singh
Palackal Thoma Malpan
Mar Augustine Kandathil
William Carey
Denominations
Saint Thomas Christian denominations
Catholic
Syro-Malabar Catholic, Syro-Malankara Catholic, Latin Catholic
Oriental Orthodox
Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church, Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church
Independent Oriential Orthodox
Malabar Independent Syrian Church
Church of the East
Chaldean Syrian
Oriental Protestant Christian
Mar Thoma Syrian, St. Thomas Evangelical
Protestant denominations
Andhra Evangelical Lutheran, Assemblies Jehovah Shammah, Christian Revival Church, Church of North India, Church of South India, Garo Baptist, Indian Brethren, Indian Pentecostal Church of God, Church of God (Full Gospel), North Bank Baptist Christian, Northern Evangelical Lutheran, Methodist Church, Presbyterian, The Pentecostal Mission, Seventh-day Adventist, United Evangelical Lutheran
Organisations
National Council of Churches in India
All India Conference of Indian Christians
All India Catholic Union
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^ abFactfile: 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.
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