Jorge Enrique Serpa Perez (born March 16, 1942, in

Cienfuegos Cienfuegos (), capital of Cienfuegos Province, is a city on the southern coast of Cuba. It is located about from Havana and has a population of 178,368 in 2022. Since the late 1960s, Cienfuegos has become one of Cuba's main industrial centers, ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

) is the former

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Pinar del Rio Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

Life and ministry

When Serpa was a child his family moved to Havana. He studied en El Buen Pastor Seminary in Havana. In 1961, he went to study

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

Tournai Tournai ( , ; ; ; , sometimes Anglicisation (linguistics), anglicised in older sources as "Tournay") is a city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, Province of Hainaut, Belgium. It lies by ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. Serpa was ordained on July 14, 1968, in Belgium and assigned to the Archdiocese of Havana. From 1968 to 1999, the Cuban government would not allow him to return to Cuba and he was then translated to the

Archdiocese of Bogotá 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 ...

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 ...

. He was allowed to return to Cuba in 1999. From 2003 to 2007, he was the rector of

San Carlos and San Ambrosio Seminary San Carlos and San Ambrosio Seminary (Spanish: ''Seminario de San Carlos y San Ambrosio'') is a seminary in Havana, Cuba. Building As a training center where prestigious Cuban intellectuals were educated before the foundation of the University of ...

. He was appointed by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

on December 13, 2006, to be Bishop of Pinar del Rio. He was consecrated on January 13, 2007, at the cathedral in Havana by

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 ...

Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino (18 October 1936 – 26 July 2019) was a Cuban prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archdiocese of Havana, Archbishop of Havana from 1981 to 2016. He was appointed to the College of Cardinals in 1994, the se ...

, Archbishop of Havana, assisted by Cardinal

Pedro Rubiano Sáenz Pedro Rubiano Sáenz (; 13 September 1932 – 15 April 2024) was a Colombian prelate of the Catholic Church who was Archbishop of Bogotá from 1995 to 2010. He was Bishop of Cúcuta from 1972 to 1983, and Archbishop of Cali from 1985 to 199 ...

, Archbishop of Bogotá, and by Bishop José Siro González Bacallo of Pinar del Río. He took possession of his diocese the following day, January 14, 2007.

References

External links

Agenzia Fides article

1942 births Living people People from Cienfuegos 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in Cuba Roman Catholic bishops of Pinar del Río {{Cuba-RC-bishop-stub