Syro-Malabar Catholic Archeparchy of Changanacherry

Archeparchy of Changanacherry Changanacherrensis
St Mary’s Metropolitan Cathedral Changanacherry
Location
Country	India
Territory	Districts of Kottayam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kollam, and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, and Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu
Ecclesiastical province	Changanassery
Statistics
Area	24,595 km2 (9,496 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2009) 9,430,000 402,200 (4.3%)
Information
Denomination	Catholic Church
Sui iuris church	Syro-Malabar Church
Rite	Syro-Malabar Rite
Cathedral	St Mary's Metropolitan Cathedral in Changanassery
Patron saint	Saint Joseph
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Major Archbishop	Mar Raphael Thattil
Archbishop	Mar Joseph Perumthottam
Auxiliary Bishops	Mar Thomas Joseph Tharayil
Website
www.archdiocesechanganacherry.org

The Archeparchy of Changanacherry is a Syro-Malabar Catholic archeparchy with an area of 24,595 km² comprising the districts of Kottayam, Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kollam, and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, and also Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the largest Catholic dioceses in India in terms of area. Joseph Perumthottam is the current Metropolitan Archbishop, serving since 2007. Thomas Tharayil has been the auxiliary bishop since 2017. Suffragan eparchies of the Changanassery archeparchy includes Palai, Kanjirappally-Nilackal, and Thuckalay-Thiruvithancode (Tamil Nadu).

The Changanacherry (originally named Kottayam) jurisdiction was one of the first two Syro-Malabar vicariates, along with Syro-Malabar Catholic Archeparchy of Thrissur, when Pope Leo XIII in 1887 re-organized Syro-Malabar Catholics as a separate church from the Latin Church's jurisdiction ever since the Synod of Diamper in 1599.