Bishops Details

Most Rev. Archbishop Tan Sri Murphy Nicholas Xavier Pakiam DD, PSM PJN

Archbishop Emeritus,ARCHDIOCESE OF KUALA LUMPUR

Brief History

Tan Sri Datuk Murphy Nicholas Xavier Pakiam is the third metropolitan archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Early life
Pakiam was born in Tapah, Perak, on the feast day of the popular saint of children, St. Nicholas. Educated at the Sultan Yusuf School in Batu Gajah, he entered the minor seminary in 1955 and started his priestly formation at the College General in Penang three years later. Pakiam was ordained a priest on 10 May 1964, and served as assistant priest at the Church of St. Louis, Taiping. The following year, he was posted to the Church of St. Francis Xavier in Penang and became the Parish Priest of the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, Silibin, Ipoh from 1970–72.

Pakiam completed his studies for a Masters in Moral Theology (Ethics) at the Lateran University in Rome in 1974, and upon his return to Malaysia, became a lecturer at Penang's College General. In 1978, he was appointed Rector of the College General and served two terms. In 1989, he received his Masters in Guidance and Counselling from the De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines. He then served as Parish Priest of the Church of the Nativity in Butterworth from 1989–95.

Appointment as Auxiliary Bishop
He was appointed as the auxiliary bishop of Kuala Lumpur and titular bishop of Chunavia on 1 April 1995, and ordained titular bishop of Chunavia, Epirus Nova, known as an Episcopal Ordination, on 4 October 1995 at the College General in Penang.

Appointment as Archbishop Bishop
On 24 May 2003, Pakiam succeeded Anthony Soter Fernandez, who resigned due to poor health, as metropolitan archbishop of Kuala Lumpur. His installation took place five days later, on 29 May 2003. His principal consecrator was Archbishop Anthony Fernandez and principal co-consecrators were Bishop James Chan Soon Cheong and Bishop Anthony Selvanayagam. He was the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

On 13 December 2013, the Pope accepted the resignation of Archbishop Pakiam upon his 75th birthday. In practice, the Bishop of Rome may decide to immediately accept the resignation letter, or keep the bishop in service until a successor is chosen. The Pope decided to accept Archbishop Pakiam's resignation as soon as he received it even though his successor, Archbishop Julian Leow Beng Kim, was only appointed on 3 July 2014.