The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mérida () is a

Latin Rite Latin Rite may refer to: *The Latin Church, a ''sui iuris'' church of the Catholic Church *The Latin liturgical rites, a family of Christian rites and uses which includes the Roman Rite *The Roman Rite The Roman Rite () is the most common ritua ...

Metropolitan

Archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

in western

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. Its

cathedral A cathedral is a church (building), church that contains the of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, Annual conferences within Methodism, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually s ...

archiepiscopal see is Catedral Basílica Menor de la Inmaculada Concepción de Mérida, a

minor basilica Basilicas are Catholic church buildings that have a designation, conferring special privileges, given by the Pope. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectura ...

located in the city of Mérida. It also has the Minor Basilica of Santa Lucía, in Timotes town, Miranda, Mérida municipality.

History

* On 16 February 1778

Pope Pius VI Pope Pius VI (; born Count Angelo Onofrio Melchiorre Natale Giovanni Antonio called Giovanni Angelo or Giannangelo Braschi, 25 December 171729 August 1799) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1775 to hi ...

established the Diocese of Mérida, on territories split off from the then Diocese of Caracas and

Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santafé en Nueva Granada Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ar ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. * It lost territory repeatedly : on 1863.03.07 to establish the Dioceses of

Barquisimeto Barquisimeto (; ) is a city in Venezuela. Barquisimeto is located in the Central-Western Region, Venezuela. It is the capital of the state of Lara (state), Lara and head of Iribarren Municipality. It is an important urban, industrial, commercial a ...

(now a Metropolitan) and

Calabozo Calabozo, officially Villa de Todos los Santos de Calabozo, is a city in Venezuela located in Guárico state, capital of the Francisco de Miranda Municipality and former capital of the state. It has a population of 168,605, according to the Nat ...

; on 1897.07.28 to establish Diocese of

Zulia Zulia State (, ; Wayuu: ''Mma’ipakat Suuria'') is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Maracaibo. As of the 2011 census, it has a population of 3,704,404, the largest population among Venezuela's states. It is also one of t ...

; on 1922.10.12 to establish its suffragan Diocese of San Cristóbal de Venezuela *

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

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 Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

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

* , 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 Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo (; born 10 October 1944) is a Venezuelan prelate of the Catholic Church, who was named Metropolitan Archbishop of Caracas in 2023 after serving as apostolic administrator there for four and a half years. He was a ...

(1991–2023) (elevated to

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

in 2016) * Helizandro Terán Bermúdez (2023–present)

Coadjutor Archbishops

* Acacio Chacón Guerra (1926-1927) *

José Humberto Quintero Parra José Humberto Quintero Parra (September 22, 1902 – July 8, 1984) was the first Venezuelan Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Caracas from 1960 to 1980, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1961. Biography J ...

(1953-1960), did not succeed to see; appointed Archbishop of Caracas, Santiago de Venezuela (cardinal in 1961) *

José Rafael Pulido Méndez José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , ...

(1961-1966) *

Angel Pérez Cisneros An angel is a Spirit (supernatural entity), spiritual (without a physical body), heaven, heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with Bird wing, bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the Transce ...

(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 ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Philippi ...

, appointed Bishop of El Vigia-San Carlos del Zulia in 2015

Ecclesiastical province

The Metropolitan's

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consist ...

comprises his own archbishopric and the following

Suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...

sees : *

Roman Catholic Diocese of Barinas The Roman Catholic Diocese of Barinas () is a suffragan Latin diocese, in the ecclesiastical province of Mérida, in western Venezuela's land-locked Barinas state. Its cathedral episcopal see is the Marian catedral de Nuestra Señora del Pilar, ...

, its daughter *

Roman Catholic Diocese of Guasdualito The Roman Catholic Diocese of Guasdualito is a young Latin Catholic suffragan diocese of the Metropolitan Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mérida in Venezuela in southern Venezuela's land-locked Apure State. Its cathedral episcopal see is the Mar ...

Roman Catholic Diocese of San Cristóbal de Venezuela The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Cristóbal de Venezuela () is a diocese located in the city of San Cristóbal in the ecclesiastical province of Mérida in Venezuela. History On 12 October 1922 Pope Pius XI established the Diocese of San Cris ...