Archbishop Mark O’Toole was born in Southwark, England on 22nd June 1963. He attended St Ignatius Primary School, Stamford Hill and St Thomas More Secondary school in Wood Green, leaving in 1981 with four ‘A’ levels.

He graduated with a B.Sc. in Geography from the University of Leicester in 1984, following which he commenced studies for the priesthood at Allen Hall Seminary in London. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Westminster by Cardinal Basil Hume at his home parish of St. Ignatius, Stamford Hill on the 9 th of June 1990.

Following Ordination, he studied for an M.Phil. in Theology at the University of Oxford, from 1990 to 1992. Between 2002 and 2008 he served as the private secretary to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor before his appointment as the rector of Allen Hall Seminary in September 2008.

On 9th November 2013, Mark O’Toole was appointed Bishop of Plymouth by Pope Francis. He received his episcopal ordination at the hands of Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor on 28th January 2014. He was the first bishop in England and Wales appointed by Pope Francis. 

On 27 th  April 2022, in succession to Archbishop George Stack, Pope Francis appointed Bishop O’Toole as Archbishop of Cardiff, at the same time appointing him Bishop of Menevia.  He therefore assumes the pastoral governance of two dioceses in persona episcopi – in the person of the Bishop. 

He was installed as the Archbishop of Cardiff in St. David’s Cathedral, Cardiff on 20 th June 2022, the feast day of the Welsh martyrs Saints Julius and Aaron. He takes canonical possession of the Diocese of Menevia on 23rd June 2022, the Feast of the Birth of St. John the Baptist. Archbishop Mark O’Toole, will lead the Catholic community in much of Wales as well as Herefordshire.