Diocese of Jalandhar gets new bishop

Jalandhar: Pope Leo XIV has appointed Jose Sebastian Thekkumcherikunnel as the new bishop of the Diocese of Jalandhar. The appointment's announcement was made public in Rome on Saturday.Thekkumcherikunnel had been serving as the financial administrator of the diocese, Born in 1962 in Kalaketty, Kerala, Thekkumcherikunnel was ordained for the Diocese of Jalandhar on May 1, 1991. He did a Licentiate in Canon Law from Pontifical Urban University, Rome. He has been handling different responsibilities in the diocese. It is after over six years that the Diocese of Jalandhar will have a permanent bishop. The then bishop, Franco Mulakkal, was relieved from his pastoral responsibilities in Sept 2018, after he was booked in a rape case lodged by a nun. Even as he was later acquitted by the court in Kerala, he resigned from his post in the middle of 2023.