Bishop of Ramanathapuram (Syro-Malabar)
Bishop Paul Alappatt, Bishop of Ramanathapuram (Syro-Malabar), India, was born on 21 April 1962 in Edathuruthy in Irinjalakuda. He grew up in the parish of Porathur in Trichur. After seminary formation at Vadavathoor, he was ordained a priest on 27 December 1987. He obtained a doctorate in Eastern Canon Law at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. He held the following positions: assistant vicar at Mattom in 1988; vicar at Pudussery and Parannur in 1989; prefect of the minor seminary in 1990; vice chancellor and member of the tribunal in 1991 and from 1997 to 1998; and chancellor from 1998 to 2007. From 2007 he was rector of Saint Mary's Minor Seminary, while continuing as judge of the tribunal in 1997, judicial vicar in 2001, and judge of the Major Archiepiscopal Tribunal in 2007. He knows Malayalam, English, Italian, and German.