His Eminence George Jacob Koovakad is the new Indian cardinal of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church who since 2020 has worked in the offices of the Holy See's Secretariat of State. On 7 December 2024, Pope Francis made him a cardinal, assigning him as a member of the order of cardinal deacons the deaconry of Sant'Antonio di Padova a Circonvallazione Appia.
George Koovakad was born on 11 August 1973 in Chethipuzha, an urban district in the municipality of Changanacherry, Kerala. He earned his intermediate and bachelor's degrees in chemistry from SB College, Changanassery in 1994 where he was also the president of the Catholic Students Movement in the college. He obtained a licentiate in 2004, studying at St Thomas Minor Seminary, Kurichy, and St Joseph Pontifical Seminary, Aluva. He was ordained a priest of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Archeparchy of Changanacherry, in July 2004. He served for a term as assistant vicar of St Mary's Church, Parel, Changanacherry.
In Rome, he obtained a doctorate in canon law in 2006 from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. After completing the preparatory program at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, he joined the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 2006. He worked in the nunciature in Algeria and then served as secretary of the nunciature in South Korea from 2009 to 2012 and in Iran from 2012 to 2014 and as a counselor of the nunciatures in Costa Rica from 2014 to 2018 and in Venezuela from 2018 to 2020.
On 6 October 2024, Pope Francis announced he intended to make Koovakad a cardinal on 8 December ( a date that was later changed to 7 December).
(Collected from the public domain. Updated on 10/12/2024)
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