[citation needed] Bishop Joseph Kalathiparambil was born on 6 October 1952 in Vaduthala, a suburb of the city of Cochin in Kerala, India.

He served as the Bishop of Calicut for almost 9 years and was then appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants on 22 February 2011.

The motto of the Bishop's Coat of Arms is "Love is the greatest of all" ("Super Omnia Caritas") (I Cor.

On 22 February 2011, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Joseph Kalathiparambil the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants.

Bishop Joseph also attended the launch of the Maritime Piracy – Humanitarian Response Programme in London.

[citation needed] On 21 March 2015, Bishop Joseph Kalathiparambil celebrated mass on board the cruise ship Costa Fascinosa after five passengers from the vessel were killed in the Bardo National Museum attack.