On 16 July 2010, Pope Benedict XVI named Mar Jose Chittooparambil as the bishop of the Syro-Malabar Catholic eparchy of Rajkot. The bishop-elect was born in 1954 in Neeleswaram, India, was ordained to the priesthood in 1985, and is currently Prior General of St. Xavier's Province in Rajkot. He succeeds bishop Mar Gregory Karotemprel, whose resignation the Pope accepted upon having reached the age limit. (All bishops of local churches, or dioceses, whose wider churches are in communion with the Pope, must submit their resignation for possible acceptance at age 75, though the resignations are usually only accepted later.)