After Pope Francis announced he would create Indian-born Fr. George Koovakad a Cardinal on December 8, our Editorial Director recalls that there have been two previous appointments as Cardinals for organizers of papal visits, though both were conferred after they were no longer in the role.
By Andrea Tornielli
His name was the last on the list of cardinals with which Pope Francis surprised everyone on Sunday as he spoke at the end of the noonday Angelus prayer.
On December 8, Cardinal-elect George Koovakad, 51, who has been in charge of organizing papal journeys since 2021, will become a Cardinal.
Born in Chethipuzha, India, on August 11, 1973, he was ordained a priest in 2004 in Changanacherry. He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See and worked in the nunciatures in Algeria, South Korea, Iran, and Costa Rica.
Since July 2020, he has been working in the General Affairs section of the Vatican Secretariat of State. Cardinal-elect Koovakad has been involved in organizing 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).
There are two precedents for Cardinal-elect Koovakad’s appointment. The first and most recent is that of Jesuit Fr. Roberto Tucci, who served as the director of La Civiltà Cattolica, director of Vatican Radio, and organizer of Pope John Paul II’s papal trips.
The Polish Pope created him Cardinal in 2001. The second precedent relates to Pope Paul VI’s first Apostolic Journey to the Holy Land in January 1964, which marked the beginning of contemporary papal travel.
Fr. Jacques Martin, a French official of the Secretariat of State, along with his personal secretary, Fr. Pasquale Macchi, were in charge of organizing the visit in secret.
Pope Paul VI announced Fr. Martin’s episcopal appointment during the visit, while they were in Capernaum. Pope John Paul II created him Cardinal in 1988.
In both cases, the title of Cardinal came when both men were no longer serving in that role and were nearing their 80th birthday, at which point Cardinals are no longer able to vote for a new Pope in a conclave.
