Chronology of Catholic Dioceses:Notes on the Diocese of Kannur, 1998

The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II has created (November 5^th 1998) the diocese of Kannur (India) with territory taken from the diocese of Calicut, making it suffragan of the Metropolitan Church of Verapoly.

The diocese of Calicut (the town is now called Kozhikode) suffragan of the archdiocese of Verapoly, was created on June 12^th 1923. This circumscription covers 6 civil districts: Calicut, Wynad, Malappuram, Kannur, Kasaragode and part of Palghat. The new diocese of Kannur (formerly Cannanore) includes two civil districts Kannur and Kasaragode. The town of Kannur has a population of about 464,000. It was the northern capital of the Kolathiri Rajas. Taken by the Portuguese in 1505 it was then taken by the British at the beginning of the 19^th century. The motives for the creation of the new diocese of Kannur are the following: the size of the mother diocese (it covers almost half the entire state of Kerala) made pastoral work difficult; the need to develop the northern part of the mother diocese and facilitate diocesan pastoral activity.

Here are the statistics of the mother diocese and the new Diocese of Kannur:

The new diocese of Kannur borders to the north with the diocese of Mangalore, to the east with Mysore, to the west with Lashadweep sea and to the south with the mother diocese of Calicut. The new Bishop will have his See at Kannur, where the Parish Church, dedicated to the most Holy Trinity, will serve as a Cathedral.

Source: Fides, December 11, 1998

- CT