In 1878 the territory, which now forms the dioceses of Mangalore, Kannur and Calicut was separated from the Vicariate Apostolic of Malabar by the Bull of Pope Plus IX and entrusted to the Jesuits of the province of Venice as a separate Vicariate Apostolic. Subsequently, this Vicariate Apostolic was raised to the status of a diocese with its Episcopal See at Mangalore and called the diocese of Mangalore. The diocese of Calicut, the 25^th diocese of India was erected by an Apostolic Brief “Cum AuctusFideliumGrex”, dated June 12, 1923 of Pope Pius XI, by separating from the diocese of Mangalore that portion of the Malabar district and adding on to it the Wayanad Taluk, till then under the diocese of Mysore. Likewise the area west of the watershed of the Walluvabad Taluk, till then under the diocese of Coimbatore was added to the diocese.

With a legacy of 102 years of faith, God is inscribing yet another sacred chapter in the history of the Diocese of Calicut. Pope Francis has elevated the Diocese of Calicut, the mother diocese of Malabar, to the status of an archdiocese and appointed Bishop Varghese Chakkalakkal as its first Metropolitan Archbishop. The rarity of this appointment lies in the fact that it was among the final appointment decrees signed by the Pope during his last days, while undergoing treatment for a severe lung illness — a detail that adds even greater significance to the proclamation.

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