Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco OP, Archbishop of Alger (Algeria), was born in Lyon (France) on 10 March 1962.  He earned a degree in law and worked as a lawyer in a law firm in Lyon until he decided to enter the Order of Preachers.  He began the year of novitiate in 1995 and took his first religious vows on 14 September 1996.  He was ordained a priest in Lyon on 24 June 2001.  On 6 October 2002 he was transferred to the Diocese of Oran, Algeria, to the monastery of Tlemcen.  In 2004 he was elected diocesan delegate for the preparation of the Interdiocesan Assembly of Algeria (AIDA).

Beginning in 2005 he was 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, and was consecrated a bishop on 25 January 2013.  On 27 December 2021 the Holy Father appointed him Metropolitan Archbishop of Alger.

He was created and proclaimed Cardinal by Pope Francis in the Consistory of 7 December 2024, and was assigned the titular church S. Cuore di Gesù agonizzante a Vitinia.