Catholic Church in India

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 & Western
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 (1973 years ago)
Members	23 million (1.57%)

The Catholic Church in India is part of the worldwide Catholic Church under the leadership of the Pope. There are over 23 million Catholics in India,^[1] representing around 1.57% 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 30 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 percentage-wise population that Indian Catholics make up in the country, India still has the second-largest Christian population in Asia, after the Catholic Church in the Philippines. Alongwith Philippines (93 million Catholics), they both form 76.7% of the South East Asian Catholic population as of 2023.All Catholic bishops from all dioceses, come together to form the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, first convened in British India, 1944.^[3] The ambassador representing the Vatican City, 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 Internunciature is located at 50-C, Niti Marg, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi.

The majority, about 78.3%, belong to the Latin Church. The Syro-Malabar Church, one of the Eastern Catholic Churches, makes up around 19.7% of Indian Catholics, while the Syro-Malankara Church accounts for approximately 2.0%. These figures reflect the diverse liturgical traditions within Indian Catholicism, with Eastern Catholic communities primarily based in the state of Kerala.^[1]

^ ^a ^b ^c Factfile: 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.

[BBC-1] Factfile: Catholics around the world on BBC news.

[CatholicHierarchy-2] "Statistics by Country". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 21 January 2015.

[3] Catholic Bishops Conference of India on CBCI website.

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