Archbishop Charles Scicluna has appointed Mgr Paul Carmel Vella as rector of St John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta.

Vella was born in Siġġiewi on September 23, 1961. He received formation for the priesthood at the Archbishop’s Seminary in Tal-Virtù, Rabat, and continued his studies at the Faculty of Theology at the University of Malta. He was ordained a priest on July 7, 1988.

Vella was appointed personal secretary and chaplain to former archbishop Joseph Mercieca and was also the archbishop’s delegate for liturgy as well as a Metropolitan Chapter ceremonial and diocesan ceremonial.

In 1995 he undertook the Licence in Canon Law course at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.

In 1997, he was appointed ‘defender of marriage’ in the Ecclesiastical Tribunal and later appointed a judge in the same tribunal. In 2007, he was appointed chaplain of the pope with the title of monsignor and in 2010, chaplain of the Order of St John. In 2013, he went again to Rome to continue his studies in Canon law at the Pontifical University of Santa Croce and, when he returned to Malta, he was appointed chaplain of St Peter’s Monastery in Mdina.

In 2017, he was appointed archpriest of the parish of St Helen in Birkirkara.

In 2019, he was appointed parish priest within the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and monsignor of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Malta.