[2] Gracias attended the Pontifical Urbaniana University from 1976 to 1982; he obtained a doctorate in canon law, a diploma in jurisprudence.

[2] He received his episcopal consecration on the following 16 September from Archbishop Ivan Dias, with Bishops Ferdinand Fonseca and Bosco Penha serving as co-consecrators.

At the consistory in St. Peter's Basilica on 24 November 2007, he was created Cardinal-Priest of San Paolo della Croce a Corviale.

On 20 February 2008 Gracias was elected 1st vice president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) of which had earlier served as secretary general.

Pope Benedict named him a member of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts on 6 May 2008[5] and of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on 6 July 2010.

[19] Gracias delivered an address to priests in 2018 to commemorate Pope Paul VI's papal encyclical Humanae Vitae.

[20] Cardinal Gracias has suggested that the pathway to married priests is still an open possibility; during the 2019 Synod of Bishops the cardinal suggested in his intervention that following present canon law could present possibilities for married men to be ordained to the priesthood, mentioning that special dispensations could be granted.

In his address given to the 32nd plenary session of the Indian Episcopal Conference in Bangalore, Gracias condemned India's new abortion bill that would extend the period to end a pregnancy to 24 weeks, declaring that "bishops have the responsibility to spread Christ's message about the dignity of all human life".

[22] In March 2011, Gracias expressed his relief at the Indian Supreme Court's decision to reject the plea for the mercy killing of a nurse who was in a semi-comatose condition for over three decades.

In remarks given to the Catholic News Service, the cardinal expressed his relief that the court rejected the plea, stating that "allowing one to die amounts to actively supporting taking away one's life".