Pope Francis on November 12 promoted and transferred Bishop Raphy Manjaly of Allahabad as the archbishop of Agra, the mother diocese of the Church in northern India.
He succeeds Archbishop Albert D’Souza, who has headed the Agra Archdiocese since 2007. Archbishop D’Souza last year turned 75, the canonical retirement age for bishops.
Bishop Manjaly was born on February 7, 1958, in Vendore, in southern India’s Kerala State. After school in Kerala, he joined St Lawrence Minor Seminary, Agra, in 1973. He then studied philosophy and theology at St Joseph’s Regional Seminary, Allahabad. He was ordained a priest on May 11, 1983.
He has studied master’s degree from Agra University and obtained a doctoral degree from Angelicum University of Rome, Italy.