Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, O.P., Archbishop of Alger (Algeria) was born in Lyon, France, on 10 March 1962. He was awarded a degree in jurisprudence and exercised the legal profession at a legal firm in Lyon, until he decided to enter the Order of Preachers. In 1995 he began the year of the novitiate and gave his first religious vows on 14 September 1996. He was ordained a priest on 24 June 2001 in Lyon. He transferred to the diocese of Oran, Algeria, on 6 October 2002 at the Convent of Tlemcen. In 2004 he was chosen as delegate of the diocese for the preparation of the Interdiocesan Assembly of Algeria (AIDA). Since 2005 he has been vicar general of the same diocese, and in 2007 he also assumed the role of diocesan bursar. On 16 October 2007 he was elected superior of the Dominican Community of Tlemcen, an office he held until January 2011, when he was elected Provincial Superior of France. On 1 December 2012 he was appointed bishop of Oran, Algeria, receiving episcopal ordination on 25 January 2013. On 27 December 2021 the Holy Father appointed him metropolitan archbishop of Alger.

Created and proclaimed Cardinal by Pope Francis in the consistory of 7 December 2024 of the Title of S. Cuore di Gesù agonizzante a Vitinia.