Background
Cordeiro, Joseph Cardinal was born on January 19, 1918 in Bombay, India.
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Cordeiro, Joseph Cardinal was born on January 19, 1918 in Bombay, India.
Cordeiro was educated at Street Patrick"s High School, Karachi, the University of Bombay, and Oxford University. He received his religious training at the Papal Seminary in Kandy, Sri Lanka, and was ordained a priest in Karachi, Pakistan on August 24, 1946.
From 1946 to 1948, he did pastoral work in Hyderabad and Karachi. On his return in 1950, he was appointed as Vice Principal of Street Patrick"s High School, Karachi. From 1952 he served as principal of Street Francis Grammar School in Quetta and as rector of the Saint Pius X Minor Seminary in Quetta.
On 7 May 1958, he was appointed Archbishop of Karachi, with his seat at Saint Patrick"s Cathedral, Karachi.
He was the first Pakistani cardinal, a position elevated to him by Pope Paul VI on 5 March 1973. He attended both papal conclaves in 1978, and was mentioned as papabile by Time Magazine after the death of Pope John Paul I. He wrote a series of articles for the Archdiocesan weekly Christian Voice called "Lessons of a Lifetime", a reflection on his life experiences.
From 1958 until the time of his death, Cardinal Cordeiro was president of the Catholic Bishops" Conference of Pakistan. Cordeiro died on 11 February 1994 at Holy Family Hospital with complications due to cancer.
Cordeiro was succeeded by Archbishop Simeon Anthony Pereira.
He was elected a member of the Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops on 6 November 1971.