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 most recent Metropolitan Archbishop 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. 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: Roman Catholic Diocese of Guarenas Roman Catholic Diocese of La Guaira Roman Catholic Diocese of Los Teques
Bishops
Ordinaries
Bishops of Caracas
Juan López de Agurto de la Mata (1637) Mauro Diego de Tovar y Valle Maldonado, O.S.B. (1639-1652), appointed Bishop of Chiapas Alonso de Briceño, O.F.M. (1653–1668) Antonio González de Acuña (1670–1682) Diego de Baños y Sotomayor (1683–1706) Francisco del Rincón, O.M. (1714–1716), Archbishop (personal title); appointed Archbishop of Santafé en Nueva Granada Juan José de Escalona y Calatayud (1717–1728), appointed Bishop of Michoacán José Félix Valverde (1728–1738), appointed Bishop of Michoacán Juan García Abadiano (1738–1747) Manuel Machado y Luna (1749–1752) Francisco de Antolino (1752–1755) Diego Díez Madroñero (1756–1769) Mariano Martí (1770–1792) Juan de la Virgen María y Viana (1792–1798) Francisco de Ibarra (1798–1803)
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) Cardinal Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo (2023–present)
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