The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mérida () is a Latin Rite Metropolitan Archdiocese in western Venezuela.
Its cathedral archiepiscopal see is Catedral Basílica Menor de la Inmaculada Concepción de Mérida, a minor basilica 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 and Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santafé en Nueva Granada in Colombia. It lost territory repeatedly : on 1863.03.07 to establish the Dioceses of Barquisimeto (now a Metropolitan) and Calabozo; on 1897.07.28 to establish Diocese of Zulia; 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 from Pope John Paul II 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 , O.F.M. (1782–1790) Cándido Manuel de Torrijos y Riguerra, O.P. (1791–1794) Antonio Ramón de Espinosa y Lorenzo, O.P. (1795–1800) Santiago Hernández y Milanés (1801–1812) Rafael Lasso y de la Vega (1816–1828), appointed Bishop of Quito José Buenaventura Arias y Bergara (1828–1831) José Vicente de Unda (1836–1840) Juan Hilario Bosset y del Castillo (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 (1991–2023) (elevated to cardinal in 2016) Helizandro Terán Bermúdez (2023–present)
Coadjutor Archbishops Acacio Chacón Guerra (1926–1927) José Humberto Quintero Parra (1953–1960), did not succeed to see; appointed Archbishop of Caracas, Santiago de Venezuela (cardinal in 1961) José Rafael Pulido Méndez (1961–1966) Angel Pérez Cisneros (1969–1972) Helizandro Terán Bermúdez (2022–2023)
Auxiliary Bishops José Buenaventura Arias y Bergara (1827–1829) Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo (1983 - 1991) appointed Archbishop of Mérida 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 (2017–2023), appointed Bishop of Punto Fijo
Other priests of this diocese who became bishops Juan de Dios Peña Rojas, appointed Bishop of El Vigia-San Carlos del Zulia in 2015
Ecclesiastical province The Metropolitan's ecclesiastical province comprises his own archbishopric and the following Suffragan sees : Roman Catholic Diocese of Barinas, its daughter Roman Catholic Diocese of Guasdualito Roman Catholic Diocese of San Cristóbal de Venezuela, its daughter Roman Catholic Diocese of Trujillo, Venezuela
See also List of Catholic dioceses in Venezuela Roman Catholicism in Venezuela
Sources and external links GCatholic.org - data for all sections Diocese website Catholic Hierarchy