KOCHI: Pope Francis elevated Archbishop Mar George Jacob Koovakad to Cardinal on Saturday, marking a historic milestone for the Catholic Church in India. Born in Chethipuzha near Changanassery on August 11, 1973, Cardinal Koovakad was ordained in 2004.
He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See and worked in the nunciatures in Algeria, South Korea, Iran, Costa Rica, and Venezuela. Koovakad, 51, has been in charge of organising papal journeys since 2021.
Since July 2020, he has been working in the General Affairs section of the Vatican Secretariat of State.
Cardinal Koovakad has been involved in organising delicate and lengthy journeys for Pope Francis – from his visit to Canada to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan to the longest pilgrimage of his pontificate in recent weeks, which took him to four countries in Asia and Oceania (Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, and Singapore).