The creation of the diocese on 15 January 2003, as the twenty-sixth eparchy of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, on territory split off from the Diocese of Kothamangalam is contained in an Apostolic ConstitutionMaturescens catholica fideis put forth by Pope John Paul II in December 2002. It started with 114 parishes and mission stations.
Statistics
As of 2015[update], it pastorally served 266,600 Syro-Malabar Catholics (34.0% of 785,000 total; there are also Latin Catholics and Syro-Malankara Catholics in this region, belonging to the Diocese of Vijayapuram viz. Thiruvalla, and Christians of Jacobite and Orthodox Churches besides various Protestant denominations) on 3,000 km2 in 155 parishes with 573 priests (238 diocesan, 335 religious), 1,306 lay religious (350 brothers, 956 sisters) and 86 seminarians.
