Pope Francis has appointed Father Christudas Rajappan as auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Trivandrum, India of the Latin Rite.
Born in 1971 in India, the bishop-elect would be ordained a priest in 1998. He holds a doctorate in missiology from Rome’s Pontifical Urban University, and has served as parish administrator, director of the KCYM in Trivandrum, chaplain of the Catholic Hostel, and spiritual director and professor at St. Joseph’s Pontifical Seminary in Alwaye.
Until being elected bishop, he had been serving as rector of St. Vincent’s Seminary in Menankulam, director of the Board of Clergy and Religious, and pastor of the St. Thomas Aquinas parish in Kochuthura.
The Indian archdiocese comprises an area of some 686 kilometers. Out of a population of some 368,000, 261,220 are Catholic. They are served by some 230 priests and 891 religious.
