Bishop Remigiose Inchananiyil of the Syro-Malabar Catholic diocese of Thamarassery in India has said that by marrying young, couples will have a better family life.
In a circular issued in the diocese, the bishop said that people who choose to get married later in life are more likely to have problems in their relationships.
The average age for marriage in the diocese is 28 for men and 25 for women. The bishop wrote that young people make a mistake when prioritising their careers ahead of their families.
The comments come at a time when the Catholic Church in India has expressed concerns of the declining Christian population of the country.
"Our suggestion is that women should marry at the age of 23 and men by 25. If they think of setting their career first and marrying later, they will not find a suitable partner. In our diocese itself, there are about thousand youngsters who waited and are not able to find a suitable partner," Bishop Inchananiyil said.
The bishop has requested for the circular to be read out in all churches in the diocese during mass on Sunday.
The diocese has 124,000 members.