Luis Rafael Zarama Pasqualetto (born November 28, 1958) is a Colombian-American Catholic prelate who has served as Bishop of Raleigh since 2017. He previously served as an auxiliary bishop for the

Archdiocese of Atlanta The Archdiocese of Atlanta () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church in northern Georgia in United States. The archdiocese is led by a prelate archbishop, who also serves as pastor of the mother chu ...

from 2009 to 2017. Zarama is the first

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

bishop of Raleigh and the first to be born outside the United States. He is also the first Colombian bishop to lead an American diocese.

Biography

Early life

Luis Zarama was born on November 28, 1958, in

Pasto Pasto, officially San Juan de Pasto (; "Saint John of Pasto"), is the capital of the department of Nariño, in southern Colombia. Pasto was founded in 1537 and named after indigenous people of the area. In the 2018 census, the municipality ...

, Nariño, Colombia, the oldest of the six children of Rafael Zarama and Maria Pasqualetto de Zarama. Deciding to become a priest, Luis Zarama entered the

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

of Pasto in 1982. While at the seminary, Zarama taught at local

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

s in Pasto. He also studied philosophy and theology at the Universidad Mariana in Pasto. Zarama went to Bogotá in 1987 to study

canon law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

at the

Pontificia Universidad Javeriana The Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (English: Xavierian Pontifical University) is a private university in Colombia founded in 1623. It is one of the oldest and most traditional Colombian universities, directed by the Society of Jesus, with its ...

. After earning his licentiate, he emigrated to the United States in 1989.

Priesthood

Zarama was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

into the priesthood by Archbishop

John Francis Donoghue John Francis Donoghue (August 9, 1928 – November 11, 2011) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as the second bishop of the Diocese of Charlotte in North Carolina from 1984 to 1993 and as the fifth archbishop of the A ...

for the Archdiocese of Atlanta at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta on November 27, 1993. After his ordination, the archdiocese assigned Zarama as

parochial vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

at Sacred Heart Parish in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. At the same time, he was appointed as an advocate for the Ecclesiastical Province of Atlanta court of appeals, holding that post until 1997. In 1996, the archdiocese appointed Zarama as administrator of St. Helena Mission in

Clayton, Georgia Clayton is a city in Rabun County, Georgia, United States. Its population was 2,003 at the 2020 census. The county seat of Rabun County, it is in the Blue Ridge Mountains. History The area that eventually became Clayton was called the Dividi ...

, and pastor of St. Mark Parish in

Clarkesville, Georgia Clarkesville is a city that is the county seat of Habersham County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 1,911, up from the 2010 census population of 1,733, up from 1,248 at the 2000 census. History Original ...

. He later said that the mountains of Northern Georgia reminded him of Colombia and that his time there was a great learning experience. The next year, he also assumed the position of

defender of the bond A defender of the bond ( or ''defensor matrimonii'') is a Catholic Church official whose duty is to defend the marriage bond in the procedure prescribed for the hearing of matrimonial causes which involve the validity or nullity of a marriage a ...

for the archdiocese. Zarama became an American citizen on July 4, 2000. He remarked: "I'm happy here, I choose to be here, and I feel like I'm part of the system as a citizen." Donoghue named Zarama as assistant director of the Vocations Office in 2000. In 2006, Archbishop

Wilton Daniel Gregory Wilton Daniel Gregory Jr. (born December 7, 1947) is an Catholic Church in the United States, American Catholic prelate who served as Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, archbishop of Washington from 2019 to 2025. Pope Francis made him a ...

named him as

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop or archbishop of a diocese or an archdiocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vica ...

. In 2007, the Vatican raised Zarama to the rank of

chaplain of his holiness Chaplain of His Holiness is a title of distinction given by the Pope in recognition of a priest's service to the Church. They are addressed with the honorific of "Monsignor" and have certain privileges with respect to ecclesiastical dress and ve ...

. In addition to his duties as vicar general, Wilton named Zarama as

judicial vicar In the Roman Catholic Church, a judicial vicar or episcopal official () is an officer of the diocese who has ordinary power to judge cases in the diocesan ecclesiastical court. Although the diocesan bishop can reserve certain cases to himself, ...

in 2008 and designated him as the archbishop's delegate to

North Georgia North Georgia is the northern hilly/mountainous region in the U.S. state of Georgia. At the time of the arrival of settlers from Europe, it was inhabited largely by the Cherokee. The counties of north Georgia were often scenes of important eve ...

's Hispanic community. While in Atlanta, Zarama was also a member of the Committee for Continuing Education of Priests and the priest personnel board.

Auxiliary Bishop of Atlanta

Coat of arms of Luis Rafael Zarama Pasqualetto

On July 27, 2009, Zarama was appointed

auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of Atlanta and titular bishop of Bararus 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 ...

. He received his

episcopal consecration A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of dioceses. The role ...

on September 29, 2009, with Gregory as the principal consecrator and Donoghue and Archbishop Eusebius Beltran as co-consecrators, at the Cathedral of Christ the King. While serving as auxiliary bishop, Zarama remained vicar general and

for the archdiocese. Zarama presided over the Sunday mass and delivered the

homily A homily (from Greek ὁμιλία, ''homilía'') is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture, giving the "public explanation of a sacred doctrine" or text. The works of Origen and John Chrysostom (known as Paschal Homily) are considered ...

at the Steubenville Atlanta Youth Conference in 2016.

Bishop of Raleigh

On July 5, 2017,

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

appointed Zarama as bishop of Raleigh. He was installed on August 29, 2017, at Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh. He became the first Hispanic and non-native bishop of Raleigh and the first Colombian-born bishop to lead a Catholic diocese in the United States. On August 13, 2018, after the resignation of Cardinal

Theodore McCarrick Theodore Edgar McCarrick (July 7, 1930 – April 3, 2025) was an American Roman Catholic bishop and cardinal who was Archbishop of Newark from 1986 to 2000 and Archbishop of Washington from 2001 to 2006. In 2019, McCarrick was defrocked by Po ...

for the sexual abuse of minors, Zarama stated that he would pray for the renewal of church leadership and the courage to take the necessary steps to end clerical sexual abuse. After the release in August 2018 of the Pennsylvania grand jury report on sexual abuse of minors in that state, Zarama called the revelations "sad" and "shameful". He voiced his support for the

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 2001 after the merger of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic C ...

' goals to investigate, report, and resolve recent accounts of sexual abuse and for the Catholic Church to do so with higher level involvement of the laity. He asked for Catholics to continue to pray for all victims of abuse, stating that they are the Church's priority. On March 12, 2020, Zarama waived the obligation to attend

Sunday mass Mass is the main Eucharistic liturgical service in many forms of Western Christianity. The term ''Mass'' is commonly used in the Catholic Church, Western Rite Orthodoxy, Old Catholicism, and Independent Catholicism. The term is also used in many ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On March 14, 2020, Zarama cancelled all weekend masses until further notice and directed all Catholic schools in the diocese to comply with Governor

Roy Cooper Roy Asberry Cooper III ( ; born June 13, 1957) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 75th List of governors of North Carolina, governor of North Carolina from 2017 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), De ...

's executive order to close all schools in North Carolina for a minimum of two weeks. On March 16, Zarama officially suspended all masses. In October 2021, Zarama responded to the apostolic letter '' Traditionis custodes'', regarding continued use of the Tridentine Mass (or Latin mass), that was issued by Francis. Zarama reduced the number of Latin masses being celebrated and prohibited them on Sundays until after 1:00 PM. He also allowed one Latin mass every month on Wednesday evenings. Zarama continued to allow additional Latin masses at Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral and the Basilica Shrine of St. Mary. Zarama also stipulated that the parishes could continue using

Epistle An epistle (; ) is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as part of the scribal-school writing curriculum. The ...

and

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

Bible readings in Latin, but the English translations must come from the

Ordo Lectionum Missae The Ordo Lectionum Missae (known officially in English as Order of Readings for Mass), commonly referred to as OLM, is the main liturgical lectionary used in the Roman Catholic Church. It contains the designated Scripture readings for the celebra ...

or the 2011 edition of the

New American Bible The New American Bible (NAB) is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Bible first published in 1970. The 1986 Revised NAB is the basis of the revised Lectionary. In the Catholic Church it is the only translation approved ...

. Zarama decreed that "only priests who have received faculties" from him could celebrate the Latin mass. His ruling went into effect on January 1, 2022. In 2022, Zarama addressed the Archdiocese of Atlanta Eucharistic Congress.

Viewpoints

Immigration

On September 5, 2017, Zarama issued a statement in response to U.S. President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's decision to end

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is a Immigration policy of the United States, United States immigration policy that allows some individuals who, on June 15, 2012, were physically present in the United States with no lawful immigra ...

(DACA), calling for comprehensive immigration reform.

Gun violence

On June 28, 2023, Zarama and the other seven bishops of the province of Atlanta issued a statement calling for

gun control Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms and ammunition by civilians. Most countries allow civilians to own firearms, bu ...

legislation.

LGBTQ rights

On February 8, 2019, Zarama released a statement supporting Reverend Christopher VanHeight of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

. VanHeight had banned Durham City Councilors

Vernetta Alston Vernetta Alston is an American Democratic politician and attorney. She served on the Durham City Council from 2017 to 2020, when she succeeded MaryAnn Black in the North Carolina House of Representatives. Early life and education Alston was ...

and Jillian Johnson from speaking at a

Black History Month Black History Month is an annually observed commemorative month originating in the United States, where it is also known as African-American History Month. It began as a way of remembering important people and events in the history of the Af ...

event at Immaculata Catholic School because they were

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

s who openly supported

same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same legal Legal sex and gender, sex. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 38 countries, with a total population of 1.5 ...

Coat of arms

Zarama's coat of arms contains a blue field with an extra wide

chevron Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * '' Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock la ...

of gold (yellow). This device gives the illusion of two mountains; a gold one and a blue one. The gold mountain (the chevron) is charged with a scattering (

semé In heraldry, variations of the field are any of a number of ways that a field (or a charge) may be covered with a pattern, rather than a flat tincture or a simple division of the field. Patterning with ordinaries and subordinaries The diminuti ...

) of red crosses to represent Pasto in Colombia." The lower mountain (part of the blue field) has a golden lion's head to represent

Mark the Evangelist Mark the Evangelist (Koine Greek, Koinē Greek: Μᾶρκος, romanized: ''Mârkos''), also known as John Mark (Koine Greek, Koinē Greek language, Greek: Ἰωάννης Μᾶρκος, Romanization of Greek, romanized: ''Iōánnēs Mârkos;'' ...

, the titular patron of the parish in

, on a mountain, where Zarama served as pastor. Above the chevron are a gold rose for Thérèse of the Child Jesus, also known as "The Little Flower," and a silver (white) lily for

Saint Joseph According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern O ...

, who is Zarama's patron saint. Zarama selected as his episcopal motto the Latin phrase ''Deus Caritas Est'' (God is love), the title of an encyclical by

. The

achievement Achievement or achieving may refer to: *Achievement (heraldry) *Achievement (horse), a racehorse *Achievement (video games), a meta-goal defined outside of a game's parameters, a digital reward that signifies a player's mastery of a specific task ...

is completed with the external ornaments which are a gold episcopal

processional cross A processional cross is a crucifix or cross which is carried in Christian processions. Such crosses have a long history: the Gregorian mission of Saint Augustine of Canterbury to England carried one before them "like a standard", according to ...

, that is placed in back of and which extends above and below the shield, and the

galero A (plural: ; from , originally connoting a helmet made of skins; cf. '' galea'') is a broad-brimmed hat with tasselated strings which was worn by clergy in the Catholic Church. Over the centuries, the red ''galero'' was restricted to use by i ...

hat, with its six tassels, in three rows, on either side of the shield, all in green. These are the heraldic insignia of a bishop.

References

External links

Roman Catholic Diocese of RaleighRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zarama, Luis Rafael 1958 births Living people Colombian emigrants to the United States Canon law jurists Roman Catholic bishops of Atlanta People from Pasto, Colombia People from Clarkesville, Georgia Pontificia Universidad Javeriana alumni Roman Catholic bishops in North Carolina