His Excellency and Most Rev. Mons. D. José Manuel Lorca Planes was born in the Murcian district of Espinardo, in the Diocese of Cartagena, on 18 October 1949.
He completed his secondary studies at the Minor Seminary of San José and then his ecclesiastical studies at the Major Seminary of San Fulgencio in Murcia.
He holds a degree in Biblical Theology from the Faculty of Theology in Granada. He was ordained to the priesthood in the parish of San Pedro Apóstol, Espinardo (Murcia), on 29 June 1975.