The Archdiocese of Maracaibo ( la, Archidioecesis Maracaibensis) is an

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 associate ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. Since November 2000, its Archbishop has been Ubaldo Ramón Santana Sequera. The city of

Maracaibo ) , motto = "''Muy noble y leal''"(English: "Very noble and loyal") , anthem = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_alt = ...

, the second largest in Venezuela, has a population of approximately 2,800,000. The Archdiocese covers a total area of 10,761 square kilometers (4,156 square miles) in

Zulia State Zulia State ( es, Estado Zulia, ; Wayuu language, Wayuu: ''Mma’ipakat Suuria'') is one of the States of Venezuela, 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Maracaibo. As of the 2011 census, it has a population of 3,704,404, the largest popu ...

History

The archdiocese was first established as the Diocese of Mérida by

Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

on 28 July 1897 as part of the Archdiocese of Mérida. It was renamed the Diocese of Zulia (2 January 1953) and renamed again as the Diocese of Maracaibo (23 July 1965). Finally it was elevated to Archdiocese on 30 April 1966. Maracaibo was visited by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

in 1985.Si to a Demanding Friend - TIME
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Bishops

Ordinaries

* Francisco Marvéz † (25 Oct 1897 – 17 Dec 1904) * Arturo Celestino Álvarez † (16 Aug 1910 – 18 Dec 1919) Appointed, Coadjutor Bishop of

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

* Marcos Sergio Godoy † (8 Mar 1920 – 21 Oct 1957) * José Rafael Pulido Méndez † (21 Jun 1958 – 16 Jan 1961) Appointed, Coadjutor Archbishop of Mérida * Domingo Roa Pérez † (16 Jan 1961 – 23 Dec 1992) * Ramón Ovidio Pérez Morales (23 Dec 1992 – 5 Jun 1999) Appointed, Archbishop (Personal Title) of Los Teques * Ubaldo Ramón Santana Sequera, F.M.I. (11 Nov 2000 – 24 May 2018) * José Luis Azuaje Ayala (24 May 2018 -

Auxiliary bishops

José Rincón Bonilla José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

† (1950-1961), appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Caracas, Santiago de Venezuela * José Alí Lebrún Moratinos † (1956-1958), appointed Bishop of Maracay; future Cardinal *

Antonio José López Castillo Antonio José López Castillo (July 9, 1945 – July 18, 2021) was a Venezuelan Roman Catholic priest and prelate. He served as auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Maracaibo from 1988 to 1992 and the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Dio ...

(1988-1992), appointed Bishop of Barinas *

William Enrique Delgado Silva William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

(1995-1999), appointed Bishop of El Vigia-San Carlos del Zulia *

Cástor Oswaldo Azuaje Pérez Càstor Oswaldo Azuaje Pérez (19 October 1951 – 8 January 2021) was a Venezuelan Catholic bishop. Biography He was born in Venezuela and was ordained to the priesthood in 1975. He served as titular bishop of Vertara and as auxiliary bishop ...

, O.C.D. (2007-2012), appointed Bishop of Trujillo *

Ángel Francisco Caraballo Fermín Angel is a given name meaning "angel", "messenger". In the English-speaking world Angel is used for both boys and girls. From the medieval Latin masculine name ''Angelus'', which was derived from the name of the heavenly creature (itself derived ...

(2012-2019), appointed Bishop of Cabimas

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops

* Felipe Rincón González † , appointed Archbishop of Caracas, Santiago de Venezuela in 1916 * Roberto Lückert León, appointed Bishop of Cabimas in 1985 *

Enrique Pérez Lavado Enrique () is the Spanish variant of the given name Heinrich of Germanic origin. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Enric (Catalan), Enrico (Italian), Henrik (Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian), Heinrich (German), Hendrik, Henk (D ...

, appointed Bishop of Maturín in 2003 *

Edgar Peña Parra Edgar Robinson Peña Parra (born 6 March 1960) is a Venezuelan Roman Catholic archbishop. Pope Francis named him Substitute for the Secretariat of State on 15 August 2018, effective 15 October, making him the highest ranking Venezuelan in the Ro ...

, appointed nuncio and titular Archbishop in 2011

Our Lady of Rosario of Chiquinquirá

This basilica in Maracaibo is one of the many popular representations of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

. The story of an apparition of the virgin dates from the 18th century. An old lady made her living by washing other people's clothes, a job she did every morning on the shores of the lake. On 18 November 1709 she had collected a load of clothes, and as usual, headed to the lake to wash them. This old lady was at her chores when she saw a wooden board floating towards her, and picked it up thinking that it might be of some use. When she had finished her work, she went home carrying the clothes, the board and a small vase of fresh water. Having placed the board on top of the vase, she noticed a small figure in the board but could not tell what it was. She fell asleep, and when she awoke it was already late and dark. She decided to go to a local grocery store (in 1709?!) to buy some candles. On her way back a small group of people had gathered outside her house, and coming closer she noticed that her home was filled with light. After entering she and some of the neighbours witnessed the small wooden board floating in the air surrounded by light with a bright crisp image of the Virgin Mary, an event since popularly held a miracle. Since that day the street where she lived has been known as ''El Milagro'' meaning ¨Miracle¨ in Spanish, and to this day it is one of the most important streets in the neighbourhood of ''El Saladillo'' in the city of Maracaibo.

Suffragan dioceses

* Diocese of Cabimas * Diocese of El Vigia-San Carlos del Zulia * Diocese of Machiques

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maracaibo, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Religious organizations established in 1897 Roman Catholic dioceses in Venezuela Roman Catholic Ecclesiastical Province of Maracaibo History of Venezuela Roman Catholic dioceses and prelatures established in the 19th century Zulia 1897 establishments in Venezuela