The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mérida ( la, Archidioecesis Emeritensis in Venetiola) is a

Latin rite Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church '' sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once ...

Metropolitan Archdiocese in western

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 ...

. Its

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

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

minor basilica In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular ...

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

Diocese of Caracas The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Caracas is the Latin an ecclesiastical territory of the Roman Catholic Church in part of Venezuela. It was founded as the Diocese of Caracas on June 20, 1637, and was later elevated to the rank of a Metropolitan ...

and Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santafé en Nueva Granada in Colombia. * It lost territory repeatedly : on 1863.03.07 to establish the Dioceses of

Barquisimeto Barquisimeto (; guc, Watkisimeeta) is a city in Venezuela. It is the capital of the state of Lara and head of Iribarren Municipality. It is an important urban, industrial, commercial and transportation center of the country, recognized as the f ...

(now a Metropolitan) and Calabozo; on 1897.07.28 to establish Diocese of

Zulia Zulia State ( es, Estado Zulia, ; 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 ...

; 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 Papal travel outside Rome has been historically rare, and voluntary travel of the pope was non-existent for the first 500 years. Pope John Paul II (1978–2005) undertook more pastoral trips than all his predecessors combined. Pope Francis (2013� ...

from

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 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 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 au ...

(1991–2023) (elevated to cardinal 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 ...

(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 differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacu ...

(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 ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, t ...

, 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 with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of seve ...

comprises his own archbishopric and the following Suffragan sees : *

Roman Catholic Diocese of Barinas The Roman Catholic Diocese of Barinas ( la, Dioecesis Barinensis) 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 N ...

, 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 Marian ...

Roman Catholic Diocese of San Cristóbal de Venezuela The Roman Catholic Diocese of San Cristóbal de Venezuela ( la, Dioecesis Sancti Christophori in Venetiola) is a diocese located in the city of San Cristóbal in the ecclesiastical province of Mérida in Venezuela. History On 12 October 1922 ...