Sat Apr 12 20:52:59 UTC 2025: ## Calicut Diocese Elevated to Metropolitan Archdiocese
**Kozhikode, Kerala, April 13, 2025** – Pope Francis has elevated the Diocese of Calicut to the status of Metropolitan Archdiocese, a significant development in the Catholic Church in Kerala. The announcement was made Saturday at 3:30 PM local time (noon in Rome) by Archbishop Joseph Pamplany of Thalassery, at the Bishop’s House in Malaparamba.
Bishop Varghese Chakkalakal, who has served the Diocese of Calicut since 2012, will become the first Metropolitan Archbishop of the newly formed Archdiocese. The Archdiocese of Calicut will oversee the suffragan dioceses of Kannur and Sultanpet.
The elevation was celebrated with several prominent figures in attendance, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, All India Congress Committee general secretary K.C. Venugopal, and Kozhikode MP M.K. Raghavan, who offered their congratulations to Archbishop Chakkalakal. Other bishops from across Kerala were also present.
Archbishop Chakkalakal brings extensive pastoral experience to this new role, having been ordained a priest in 1981, serving as the first bishop of Kannur (1998-2012), and holding various leadership positions within the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) and the Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI).
First Piper 