Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mérida in Venezuela

Archdiocese of Mérida Archidioecesis Emeritensis in Venetiola
C.I.M.
Map

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mérida (

• On 16 February 1778
  Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santafé en Nueva Granada in Colombia
  .
• It lost territory repeatedly : on 1863.03.07 to establish the Dioceses of
  Zulia; on 1922.10.12 to establish its suffragan Diocese of San Cristóbal de Venezuela
• Pope Pius IX elevated the diocese to Metropolitan Archdiocese of Mérida on 11 June 11, 1923.
• It lost more territory to establish two more suffragans : on 1957.06.04 Trujillo, on 1965.07.23 Barinas
• It enjoyed a
  Papal visit from Pope John Paul II
  in January 1985.
• On 1994.07.07 it lost territory to establish the Diocese of El Vigía–San Carlos del Zulia
• On 3 December 2015 it was assigned another suffragan see, the newly created Diocese of Guasdualito

Statistics

As per 2014, it pastorally served 566,519 Catholics (85.0% of 666,491 total) on 8,109 km² in 62 parishes and 14 missions with 133 priests (98 diocesan, 35 religious), 21 deacons, 277 lay religious (59 brothers, 218 sisters) and 46 seminarians.

Leadership

Bishops of Merida

• Juan Manuel Antonio Ramos Lora, O.F.M. (1782–1790)
• Cándido Manuel de Torrijos Riguerra, O.P. (1791–1794)
• Antonio Ramón de Espinosa (y Lorenzo), O.P. (1795–1800)
• Santiago Hernández Milanés (1801–1812)
• Rafael Lasso de la Vega (1816–1828), appointed
  Bishop of Quito
• José Buenaventura Arias Bergara (1828–1831)
• José Vicente de Unda (1836–1840)
• Juan Hilario Bosset (1842–1873)
• Thomas Zerpa (1876), did not take effect
• Román Lovera (1880–1892)
• Antonio Ramón Silva (1894–1923)

Archbishops of Mérida

• Antonio Ramón Silva (1923–1927)
• Acacio Chacón Guerra (1927–1966)
• José Rafael Pulido Méndez (1966–1972)
• Angel Pérez Cisneros (1972–1979)
• Miguel Antonio Salas Salas, C.I.M. (1979–1991)
• Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo (1991–2023) (elevated to cardinal in 2016)
• Helizandro Terán Bermúdez (2023–present)

Coadjutor Archbishops

• Acacio Chacón Guerra (1926-1927)
• José Humberto Quintero Parra (1953-1960), did not succeed to see; appointed Archbishop of Caracas, Santiago de Venezuela (cardinal in 1961)
• José Rafael Pulido Méndez (1961-1966)
• Angel Pérez Cisneros (1969-1972)
• Helizandro Terán Bermúdez (2022–2023)

Auxiliary Bishops

• Jose Buenaventura Arias Bergara (1827–1829)
• Juan María Leonardi Villasmil (1994–1997), appointed Bishop of Punto Fijo
• Luis Alfonso Márquez Molina, C.I.M. (2001–2013)
• Alfredo Enrique Torres Rondón (2013–2016), appointed Bishop of San Fernando de Apure
• Luis Enrique Rojas Ruiz (2017–present)

Other priest of this diocese who became bishop

• Juan de Dios Peña Rojas, appointed Bishop of El Vigia-San Carlos del Zulia in 2015

Ecclesiastical province

The Metropolitan's

• Roman Catholic Diocese of Barinas, its daughter
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Guasdualito
• Roman Catholic Diocese of San Cristóbal de Venezuela, its daughter
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Trujillo, Venezuela

See also

• List of Catholic dioceses in Venezuela
• Roman Catholicism in Venezuela

Sources and external links

• GCatholic.org - data for all sections
• Diocese website
• Catholic Hierarchy ^{[self-published]}

8°35′50″N 71°08′38″W / 8.59722°N 71.14389°W / 8.59722; -71.14389