The Major Archbishop, a position equivalent to Patriarch and locally called as Head & Father of Syro-Malankara Catholic Church.

Pope Pius XI, through the Apostolic Constitution Christo Pastorum Principi of 11 June 1932, established the Syro-Malankara Hierarchy for the reunited community and erected the Archiparchy of Thiruvananthapuram with the Eparchy of Tiruvalla as its suffragan.

Archbishop Pedro López Quintana, the Apostolic Nuncio in India, read the official declaration at St. Mary's Cathedral, Pattom, Thiruvananthapuram.

The title “Catholicos” is used according to the Antiochene-Malankara Tradition in referring to the "Major Archbishop" (a term recently adopted by the Latin Church to refer to Eastern bishops equal to patriarchal authority, without an historical Patriarchate).

[1] The Father and Head of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church, Baselios Cleemis was elevated to the College of Cardinals of the Catholic Church by Pope Benedict XVI at the Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican on 24 November 2012.