Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Caracas

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Archdiocese of Caracas

Archidiœcesis Caracarum

Arquidiocesis de Caracas
Caracas Cathedral 2.jpg
Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Ann
Location
Country Venezuela
Territory, Municipio Chacao, , Municipio El Hatillo, .
Ecclesiastical provinceProvince of Caracas
Statistics
Area382 sq mi (990 km2)
Population
- Total
- Catholics (including non-members)		(as of 2006)
4,644,000
3,960,000 (85.3%)
Parishes116
Information
DenominationRoman Catholic
RiteLatin Rite
Established21 June 1531 (490 years ago)
CathedralCatedral Metropolitana de Santa Ana
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
Archbishopvacant
Auxiliary Bishops
Apostolic AdministratorBaltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo
Bishops emeritus
Map
Arquidiócesis de Caracas.svg

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 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 most recentArchbishop had been Jorge Urosa, appointed by Pope Benedict XVI on September 19, 2005 (and elevated to Cardinal in 2006); retirement accepted July 9, 2018 by Pope Francis.Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo was also appointed as Apostolic Administrator at the same day.

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.[1][2]
  • 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 the papal bull In universalis ecclesiae regimine issued by Pope Pius VII on November 24, 1803. Until then it was a suffragan in the Ecclesiastical Province of the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo on Hispaniola, now in the Dominican Republic.
  • 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 archdiocese and the following suffragan sees:

Bishops[]

Ordnaries[]

Bishops of Caracas
Archbishops of Caracas
  • Francisco de Ibarra (1803–1806)
  • Narciso Coll y Prat (1808–1822), appointed Bishop of Palencia
  • Ramón Méndez (1827–1839)
  • Ignacio Fernández Peña (1841–1849)
  • Silvestre Guevara y Lira (1852–1876)
  • José Antonio Ponte (1876–1883)
  • Críspulo Uzcátegui (1884–1904)
  • Juan Bautista-Castro (1904–1915)
  • Felipe Rincón González (1916–1946)
  • Lucas Guillermo Castillo Hernández (1946–1955)
  • Rafael Arias Blanco (1955–1959)
  • Cardinal José Humberto Quintero Parra (1960–1980)
  • Cardinal José Lebrún Moratinos (1980–1995)
  • Cardinal Ignacio Velasco, S.D.B. (1995–2003)
  • Cardinal Jorge Urosa (2005–2018)

Coadjutor bishops[]

  • Juan Bautista-Castro (1903–1904)
  • Lucas Guillermo Castillo Hernández (1939–1946)
  • Rafael Arias Blanco (1952–1955)
  • José Lebrún Moratinos (1972–1980); future Cardinal

Auxiliary bishops[]

  • (1943–1960)
  • (1956–1972)
  • (1961–1984)
  • (1962–1972), appointed Bishop of Valencia en Venezuela
  • (1965–1969)
  • (1970–1980), appointed Bishop of Coro
  • (1972–1996), appointed Bishop of Venezuela, Military
  • (1974–1976), appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Trujillo
  • (1974–1987), appointed Bishop of Cumaná
  • , S.D.B. (1979–1991), appointed Bishop of Barcelona
  • Jorge Liberato Urosa Savino (1982–1990), appointed Archbishop of Valencia en Venezuela (later returned here as Archbishop); future Cardinal
  • , S.D.B. (1985–1987), appointed Bishop of Maracay
  • , F.M.I. (1990–1991), appointed Bishop of Ciudad Guayana
  • (1990–1994), appointed Bishop of Maturín
  • (1990–1995), appointed Bishop of Los Teques
  • (1992–2005)
  • Rafael Ramón Conde Alfonzo (1995–1997), appointed Coadjutor Bishop of La Guaira
  • (1997–2001), appointed Bishop of La Guaira
  • , C.I.M. (1997–2009)
  • (1997–2011), appointed Bishop of Puerto Cabello
  • (2007–2013), appointed Bishop of Carora
  • (2007–2018), appointed Archbishop of Cumaná
  • (2009–2015), appointed Bishop of Margarita
  • (2012–2020), appointed Bishop of Guarenas
  • (2014–2021), appointed Bishop of Trujillo
  • , S.D.B. (2016–2019), appointed Bishop of Maracay
  • (2019–)
  • (2021-)
  • (2021-)

Other priests of this diocese who became bishops[]

  • , appointed Bishop of Guayana in 1856
  • , appointed Bishop of Mérida in 1880
  • Manuel Arteaga y Betancourt, appointed Archbishop of San Cristobal de la Habana, Cuba in 1941 (Cardinal in 1946)

See also[]

  • Roman Catholicism in Venezuela

References[]

  1. ^ "Archdiocese of Caracas" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved March 19, 2016[self-published source]
  2. ^ "Archdiocese of Caracas" GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved March 19, 2016

Sources and external links[]

Coordinates: 10°30′22″N 66°54′51″W / 10.50611°N 66.91417°W / 10.50611; -66.91417

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