Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Caracas

Archdiocese of Caracas Archidiœcesis Caracarum Arquidiocesis de Caracas
Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Ann
Location
Country	Venezuela
Territory	Municipio Libertador, Municipio Chacao, Municipio Sucre, Municipio El Hatillo, Municipio Baruta.
Ecclesiastical province	Province of Caracas
Statistics
Area
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2006) 4,644,000 3,960,000 (85.3%)
Parishes	116
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Rite	Latin Rite
Established	21 June 1531 (492 years ago)
Cathedral	Catedral Metropolitana de Santa Ana
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Auxiliary Bishops	Luis Armando Tineo Rivera Jesús González de Zarate Tulio Luis Ramírez Padilla José Trinidad Fernández Angulo
Emeritus Bishops	Pedro Nicolás Bermúdez Roberto Dávila Uzcátegui
Website
Archidiocese of Caracas Official (in Spanish)

The Roman Catholic Metropolitan 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 see on November 27, 1803.

This episcopal see occupies a territory of about 790 square kilometers and is not unlikely to be given several Auxiliary bishops. The current Archbishop is Cardinal Jorge Urosa, appointed by Pope Benedict XVI on September 19, 2005.

Its cathedral episcopal see is the Catedral Metropolitana de Santa Ana, in national capital Caracas, Distrito Federal, which also has three Minor Basilicas: Basílica de Santa Teresa, Basílica San Pedro Apóstol and Basílica Santuario de Santa Capilla (also a National Shrine).

History

• Established on 20 June 1637 as Diocese of Caracas alias Santiago de Venezuela, on vast territory split off from the suppressed Diocese of Coro, which had itself been established in 1531, by the Papal Bull Pro Excellentia praeeminentia issued by Pope Clement VII in St. Peter's in Rome on 21 June of that year and was based in Coro, Falcón State, then the capital of Venezuela, but vacant since 1721 to 1727.
• It lost territories in 1715 to establish the Apostolic Prefecture of Curaçao and on 16 february 1778 to establish the Diocese of Mérida (Venezuela).
• The Diocese was elevated to Metropolitan Archdiocese of Caracas by Papal Bull In universalis ecclesiae regimine issued by Pope Pius VII in the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome on November 24, 1803, until this date having been a suffragan in the Ecclesiastical Province of the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo on Hispaniola, now in the Dominican Republic and primatial see of the Americas.
• It lost more territories repeatedly to establish Dioceses : on 1863.03.07 to establish the Calabozo, on 1922.10.12 Valencia (Venezuela), on 1958.06.21 Maracay, on 1965.07.23 Los Teques (its suffragan) and on 1970.04.15 La Guaira (also its suffragan).
• It enjoyed papal visits by Pope John Paul II in January 1985 and February 1996.

Province

Its ecclesiastical province in Venezuela comprises the Metropolitan's own Archbishopric and the following suffragan sees :

• Roman Catholic Diocese of Guarenas
• Roman Catholic Diocese of La Guaira
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Los Teques.

Episcopal Ordinaries

(all Roman Rite)

Diocese of Caracas (Santiago de Venezuela)

Established: 20 June 1637 from the suppressed Diocese of Coro
Latin Name: Caracensis o S. Iacobi in Venezuela
Metropolitan: Archdiocese of Santo Domingo

• Juan López de Agurto de la Mata (1637.06.20 – death 1637.12.24), previously Bishop of Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico) ([1630.07.20] 1631.02.10 – 1634.11.20), Bishop of Coro (Venezuela) ([1634.08.08] 1634.11.20 – 1637.06.20)
• Mauro Diego (Marcos) de Tovar y Valle Maldonado, Order of Saint Benedict (O.S.B.) (1639.10.03 – 1652.12.16), later Bishop of Chiapas (Mexico) (1652.12.16 – death 1666.10.22)
• Alonso de Briceño, Friars Minor (O.F.M.) (1653.08.18 – death 1668.11.16), previously Bishop of León in Nicaragua (Nicaragua) (1644.11.14 – 1653.08.18)
• Antonio González de Acuña (1670–1682)
• Diego de Baños y Sotomayor (1683.02.15 – death 1706.05.15), previously Bishop of Santa Marta (Colombia) (1677.09.13 – 1683.02.15)
• Francisco del Rincón, Order of the Minims (O.M.) (1714.02.26 – 1716.10.05), previously Metropolitan Archbishop of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) (1705.12.14 – 1714.02.26); later Metropolitan Archbishop of Santafé en Nueva Granada (Colombia) (1716.10.05 – death 1723.06.28)
• Juan José de Escalona y Calatayud (1717.03.15 – 1728.11.15), later Bishop of Michoacán (Mexico) (1728.11.15 – death 1737.05.23)
• José Félix Valverde (1728.11.15 – 1738.11.24), later Bishop of Michoacán (Mexico) (1738.11.24 – death 1741.02.23)
• Juan García Abadiano (1738.12.19 – death 1747.05.06)
• Father Manuel Jiménez Bretón (1748.09.16 – 1749.03.30, no episcopal ordination recorded)
• Manuel Machado y Luna (22 Sep 1749 - death 1752.01.29)
• Francisco de Antolino (25 Sep 1752- death 1755.08.06), previously Bishop of Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico) (1748.05.06 – 1752.09.25)
• Diego Díez Madroñero (1756.05.24 – death 1769.02.03)
• Mariano Martí (1770.01.29 – death 1792.02.20), previously Bishop of Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico) (1761.05.24 – 1770.01.29)
• Juan de la Virgen María y Viana (1792.09.24 – 1798.08.14), later
• Francisco de Ibarra (1798.12.14 – 1803.11.27), the first bishop born in Venezuela to receive episcopal ordination, previously Bishop of Santo Tomás de Guayana (Venezuela) (1791.12.19 – 1798.12.14 see below)

Archdiocese of Caracas, Santiago de Venezuela

Elevated: 27 November 1803
Latin Name: Caracensis o S. Iacobi in Venezuela

• Francisco de Ibarra (((see above 1803.11.27 – death 1806.09.19)
• Narciso Coll y Prat (1808.01.17 – 1822.02.25), later Archbishop-Bishop of Palencia (Spain) ([1822.02.25] 1822.04.19 – 1822.12.30)
• Apostolic Administrator Domingo de Silos Moreno, O.S.B. (1818.03.16 – 1825.03.21), Titular Bishop of Canatha (1818.03.16 – 1825.03.21), later/elect-Bishop of Cádiz (Spain) ([1824.11.30] 1825.03.21 – 1853.03.09)
• Ramón Méndez (1827.05.21 – death 1839.08.06)
• Ignacio Fernández Peña (1841.07.15 – death 1849.01.18)
• Silvestre Guevara y Lira (1852.09.27 – 1876.06.06), emeritate as Titular Archbishop of Amasea (1877.01.09 – 1882.02.20)
• José Antonio Ponte (1876.09.29 – death 1883.11.06)
• Críspulo Uzcátegui (1884.11.13 – death 1904.05.31)
• Juan Bautista-Castro (1904.05.31 – death 1915.08.07), succeeding as former Coadjutor Archbishop of Caracas (1903.12.30 – 1904.05.31) & Titular Archbishop of Serræ (1903.12.30 – 1904.05.31)
• Felipe Rincón González (1916.08.10 – death 1946.05.13)
• Lucas Guillermo Castillo Hernández (1946.05.13 – death 1955.09.09), previously Bishop of Coro (Venezuela) (1923.01.19 – 1939.11.10), Titular Archbishop of Rhizæum (1939.11.10 – 1946.05.13) & Coadjutor Archbishop of Caracas (1939.11.10 – succeeding 1946.05.13)
• Rafael Arias Blanco (1955–1959), previously Titular Bishop of Attalea in Pamphylia (1937.06.21 – 1939.11.12) & Auxiliary Bishop of Cumaná (Venezuela) (1937.06.21 – 1939.11.12), Bishop of San Cristóbal de Venezuela (Venezuela) (1939.11.12 – 1952.04.23), Titular Archbishop of Pompeiopolis in Cilicia (1952.04.23 – 1955.09.18) & Coadjutor Archbishop of Caracas (1952.04.23 – 1955.09.18 succeeding)
• José Humberto Quintero Parra (1960.08.31 – 1980.05.24), succeeding as former Titular Archbishop of Acrida (Ochrid) (1953.09.07 – 1960.08.31) & Coadjutor Archbishop of Mérida (1953.09.07 – 1960.08.31); also President of Episcopal Conference of Venezuela (1961 – 1972), created Cardinal-Priest of Ss. Andrea e Gregorio al Monte Celio (1961.01.19 – 1984.07.08)
• José Lebrún Moratinos (1980.05.24 – retired 1995.05.27), previously Titular Bishop of Aradus (1956.08.02 – 1958.06.21) & Auxiliary Bishop of Maracaibo (Venezuela) (1956.08.02 – 1958.06.21), Bishop of Maracay (Venezuela) (1958.06.21 – 1962.03.19), Bishop of Valencia (Venezuela) (1962.03.19 – 1972.09.21), Titular Archbishop of Voncaria (1972.09.21 – 1980.05.24) & Coadjutor Archbishop of Caracas (1972.09.21 – succeeding 1980.05.24)
• Ignacio Velasco, Salesians of Don Bosco (S.D.B.) (1995.05.27 – death 2003.07.06), previously Titular Bishop of Utimmira (1989.10.23 – 1995.05.27) & Apostolic Vicar of Puerto Ayacucho (Venezuela) (1989.10.23 – 1995.05.27), Apostolic Administrator of San Fernando de Apure (Venezuela) (1992.05.27 – 1994.07.12); created Cardinal-Priest of S. Maria Domenica Mazzarello (2001.02.21 [2001.05.24] – 2003.07.06)
• Apostolic Administrator Jorge Liberato Urosa Savino (2003.07.07 – 2005.09.19 see below), previously Titular Bishop of Vegesela in Byzacena (1982.07.03 – 1990.03.16) & Auxiliary Bishop of Caracas (1982.07.03 – 1990.03.16), Metropolitan Archbishop of Valencia in Venezuela (Venezuela) (1990.03.16 – 2005.09.19 see below)
• Jorge Urosa (see above 19 September 2005 – ...), created Cardinal-Priest of S. Maria ai Monti (2006.03.24 [2006.07.02] – ...), Member of Council of Cardinals for the Study of Organisational and Economic Problems of the Apostolic See (2009.05.09 – 2014.02.24)

See also

• Roman Catholicism in Venezuela

Sources and External links

• Official website
• GCatholic.org, with incumbent biography links
• Catholic-Hierarchy
• Catholic Encyclopedia