H. H. Pope Pius XII by the Bull "Quo Ecclesiarum" issued on 25 July 1950 bifurcated the Diocese of Changanacherry and out of out of the territory covered by the Foranes of Palai, Muttuchira, Kuravilangad, Anakkallu, (including the present Forane of Aruvithura, Cherpunkal, Elanji Thudanganad) and Ramapuram erected the Diocese of Palai as a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam. Most Rev.Dr.Leo P. Kierkels, the Apostolic Internuncio in India, published the Bull in the St. Thomas Cathedral Palai on 4th January 1951 and installed Rt. Rev.Dr.Sebastian Vayalil, the first Bishop of the new Diocese. On the 22nd of August 1956 when the Holy See by the Ap.Const. ‘Regnum Coelorum’ raised the diocese of Changanacherry to the status of an Archdiocese, and constituted the new ecclesiastical province of Changanacherry, the Diocese of Palai became one of its suffragans.

The Second Vatican Council end in 1965, and the first synod of bishops took place in 1967 focused on the Preservation and Strengthening of the Catholic Faith. While serving as the Rector of the St. Thomas Apostolic Seminary, Vadavathoor, Kottayam Bishop Mar Joseph Pallikaparampil was nominated Auxiliary to His Excellency the Bishop of Palai and was ordained Bishop on August 15, 1973 and took charge as Vicar General on August 22,1973. The Bishops recognised the urgent need of guiding the parents to have good families in the society and the Family Centre was the outcome of their vision and pastoral care. In April 1977 they established a Diocesan Department - Family Centre, aimed at giving orientation to the families to lead a true Catholic life, and appointed Fr. Augustine Vadakarakkalayil as the Director of the Family centre.

Karol Józef Wojtyla (18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) elected as Pope on 16 October 1978 and he announced that he was calling for a world synod of bishops in Rome soon. In 1980, the first synod was held in the pontificate of Pope John Paul II and Its topic was the role of the Christian family in the modern word. More than 200 bishops representing the Catholic Church from around the world met for five weeks of discussion, dealing with pressing issues facing the church namely family survival under difficult political and economic circumstances, the role of the state in determining family size, the survival of the Christian family where Christians were a minority of the population, challenges of maintaining intimacy in marriage, the church's response to divorce, the need for family spirituality, and the roles of women and men in the family. A year after the synod on the family adjourned, Pope John Paul II issued the encyclical Familiaris Consortio (On the Family). It was easily the lengthiest treatise on marriage and family ever created in the Catholic Church.