Archeparchy of Shamshabad

Archeparchy of Shamshabad
Archeparchy of Shamshabad
Catholic
Location
Country	India
Territory	States (14): Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Sikkim, Meghalaya, Assam, Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh; Union Territories (2): Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands; State territories outside the Jurisdiction of other Eparchies (3): the Eparchy of Adilabad in the State of Telangana, the Eparchy of Rajkot in the State of Gujarat, and the Eparchies of Bijnor, Gorakhpur, Satna and Faridabad in the State of Uttar Pradesh.; Districts of UTs(4): Yanam, Daman, Dadra and Nagar Haveli;
Statistics
Population	(as of 2022); 123,735;
Parishes	37 parishes, 69 missions
Churches	11 functional, 7 under construction, as of 2017
Information
Denomination	Catholic Church
Sui iuris church	Syro-Malabar Church
Rite	East Syriac Rite
Established	10 October 2017
Cathedral	St. Alphonsa Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Kukatpally
Patron saint	Mar Thoma Sliha; St. John Paul II, co-patron;
Secular priests	72 (52 diocesan, 20 religious)
Current leadership
Pope	Leo XIV
Major Archbishop	Mar Raphael Thattil
Metropolitan Archbishop	Mar Antony Panengaden
Suffragans	Eparchy of Adilabad
Auxiliary Bishops	Mar Joseph Kollamparambil; Mar Thomas Padiyath;
Website
	shamshabaddiocese.org

The Archeparchy of Shamshabad is an archeparchy of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church based in Telangana, India. It was established by Pope Francis on 10 October 2017 as an eparchy, and Mar Raphael Thattil was appointed its first eparch. In a letter to the bishops of India, Francis cited India's decades of experience with "overlapping jurisdictions" of different sui iuris churches. He wrote: "With the growth of spiritual friendship and mutual assistance, any tension or apprehension should be swiftly overcome. May this extension of the pastoral area of the Syro-Malabar Church in no way be perceived as a growth in power and domination, but as a call to deeper communion, which should never be perceived as uniformity." On 28 August 2025, the eparchy was elevated to an archeparchy.

The new jurisdiction was inaugurated with Mar Thattil's installation on 7 January 2018. The cathedral is the St. Alphonsa Syro-Malabar Catholic Church at Kukatpally, in Greater Hyderabad.

There are 130,000 Catholics in the Shamshabad diocese with eleven functional churches and seven under construction.