Meet Pope Francis’ personal travel agent — new cardinal George Koovakad

Vatican City, Nov 7, 2024 / 06:00 am

Pope Francis’ personal travel agent — the priest who organizes his trips around the world — is one of the 21 clerics who will be made a cardinal at a consistory at the Vatican in December.

The pontiff introduced Father George Jacob Koovakad to the world in 2021 as someone who is “always smiling.”

In late 2021, Koovakad, a Vatican diplomat, became the coordinator for papal travels, working in the section for general affairs of the Secretariat of State to arrange Francis’ trips, including his recent historic visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Singapore. 

The 51-year-old cardinal-designate is from Chethipuzha in the southern Indian state of Kerala. He is part of the Syro-Malabar Church, one of the Catholic faith’s Eastern-rite Churches.

Koovakad explained in an Oct. 25 interview with Vatican News that the Syro-Malabar Church originates with the apostle St. Thomas, who brought the Christian faith to India in the first century.

“I come from this vibrant community where the faith is passed down through generations as a family treasure,” he said.

The cardinal-designate noted that he was brought up in a Catholic environment where daily Mass was encouraged and he prayed evening prayers daily with his parents and grandparents.

“It was this life of faith in my family that helped me discover my vocation to the priesthood,” Koovakad said. He was also inspired by an uncle who is a priest and religious and by his former archbishop, Mar Joseph Powathil, who instilled in him “a deep love for the Church,” the priest said.

The soon-to-be cardinal was ordained a priest in 2004. Soon after, he moved to Rome, where he received a doctorate in canon law in 2006 from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross with a doctoral thesis on “The Obligation of Poverty for Secular Clerics in the Codes of Canon Law.”

The topic of Koovakad’s thesis reflects his personal dedication to the poor, according to the priest and diplomat’s brother-in-law, Mathew M. Scaria, who told UCA News last month that Koovakad “is compassionate to the poor.”

“Pope Francis’ love for the poor and marginalized has always resonated with me, and we share this common outlook,” Koovakad told Vatican News. “I also entered the seminary with a desire to help the poor, in whom we encounter the privileged presence of Jesus Christ.”

The cardinal-designate entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See in 2006, holding various positions in nunciatures in Algeria, South Korea, Iran, Costa Rica, and Venezuela until 2020.

After joining the Vatican’s Secretariat of State in the summer of 2020, in the fall of 2021 Koovakad, who had been given the honorary title of “monsignor,” took over the job of planning trips for Pope Francis.

The role includes visiting countries to study their safety and to set up logistical details, such as the pope’s agenda.

“As a Christian, my joy knows no bounds, and it is this joy that helps me overcome any difficulties that arise [in this job],” Koovakad said in the Vatican News interview. “Personally, I like to view the papal visits as pilgrimages of the successor of Peter. Seen in this way, the great responsibilities are managed through prayer and close and harmonious cooperation with all the individuals involved.”

He said being a cardinal will bring additional responsibilities, but “I believe I can do all things through him who strengthens me, even in my weaknesses.”

Being a cardinal will also help him as papal travel agent by giving him “more authority in dealing with high-ranking ecclesiastical and civil authorities,” he noted.

Pope Francis while aboard the papal plane from Rome to Budapest, Hungary, in September 2021 announced that Koovakad would be replacing Bishop Dieudonné Datonou as trip organizer. Noting Datonou’s nickname as “the sheriff on duty,” Francis said Koovakad would be “a sheriff with a smile.”

Father Robinson Rodrigues, spokesperson of India’s bishops’ conference, told UCA News Koovakad’s nomination as cardinal “is a great recognition for the Indian Church to have one more cardinal, especially based in the Vatican.”

Koovakad can play “a vital role” in protecting the interests of the Indian Church, he said.

Prior to receiving a red hat at a Vatican ceremony on Dec. 7, Koovakad will be consecrated a titular archbishop in Changanassery Cathedral on Nov. 24. He is the first Syro-Malabar priest to be elevated to cardinal directly from the priesthood, according to the Church’s spokesperson.