Franco Mulakkal

Franco Mulakkal Biography

Franco Mulakkal is a religious priest from Kerala associated with Christianity. He is a prelate of the Catholic Church who currently serves as the Bishop of the Latin Diocese of Jalandhar based in Jalandhar, Punjab. He also serves as the Secretary of Regional Bishops Conference of North, India and Consultor for Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue, Rome.

In 2018 he came into spotlight and controversies for all wrong reasons, when a Roman nun from Kerala accused him of repeated sexual assault 13 times between 2014 and 2016. Franco Mulakkal denied all these allegations. It stirred a lot of controversies when Kerala police hesitated to register case at first, and then delayed the arrest of Bishop. Agitations and wide protest are still going on, and the incident and following events have grabbed nationwide attention and protest. Members of various Catholic reformation organisations including nuns took to the streets to protest the alleged laxity in the probe against the bishop, first time ever in the history of Kerala.

Franco Mulakkal was born on 25 March 1964 in Mattam, Kerala. He holds Master's degree in English and Sociology from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. He was ordained a Catholic Priest for the Syro-Malabar Church in 1990. He later joined the prelate of the Latin Church of North India. He received his Doctorate in Moral Theology from the Alphonsian Academy of Lateran University, Rome. He was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Delhi in 2009, followed by Titular Bishop of Chullu in January 2009 and Ordained a Bishop the following month. He was appointed Bishop of Jalandhar on 13 June 2013 by Pope Francis, and has been serving the position till now.

Published: September 18, 2018

Updated: September 18, 2018