Archdiocese of Barquisimeto

Archdiocese of Barquisimeto Archidioecesis Barquisimetensis
Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Location
Country	Venezuela
Statistics
Area	8,590 km2 (3,320 sq mi)
Population Total Catholics	(as of 2006) 1,754,410 1,142,504 (65.1%)
Information
Denomination	Catholic Church
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	7 March 1863 (163 years ago)
Cathedral	Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Current leadership
Pope	Leo XIV
Metropolitan Archbishop	Polito Rodríguez Méndez

The Archdiocese of Barquisimeto (Latin: Archidioecesis Barquisimetensis) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the state of Lara, Venezuela. It is a metropolitan see.

History

• Established on 7 March 1863 as Diocese of Barquisimeto, on territory split off from the then Diocese of Mérida (now Metropolitan)
• Suppressed on 14 August 1867, its territory reassigned to the new, short-lived Diocese of Coro y Barquisimeto (in fact a see transfer to Coro)
• Restored on 22 October 1869 as Diocese of Barquisimeto from that (suppressed) Diocese of Coro y Barquisimeto
• Lost territory on 12 October 1922 to establish the Diocese of Coro and on 7 June 1954 to establish the Diocese of Guanare, its own suffragan
• Promoted on 30 April 1966 as Metropolitan Archdiocese of Barquisimeto.
• Lost territory again to establish two more suffragans : on 7 October 1966 the Diocese of San Felipe and on 25 July 1992 the Diocese of Carora.

Special churches

Its cathedral episcopal see is the very modern Cathedral of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Barquisimeto. There is also a Minor Basilica : Basílica el Santo Cristo de la Gracia, also in Barquisimeto.

Bishops

Episcopal ordinaries

Suffragan Bishops of Barquisimeto

• Victor José Díez Navarrete (22 October 1869 – died 1893)
• Gregorio Rodríguez y Obregón (21 May 1894 – died 1900)
• Aguedo Felipe Alvarado Liscano (15 August 1910 – died 26 September 1926)
• Enrique María Dubuc Moreno (26 September 1926 – 17 November 1947), resigned
• Críspulo Benítez Fontúrvel (21 October 1949 – 30 April 1966 see below)

Metropolitan Archbishops of Barquisimeto

• Críspulo Benítez Fontúrvel (see above 30 April 1966 – 18 October 1982), retired
• Tulio Manuel Chirivella Varela (18 October 1982 – 22 December 2007), retired
• Antonio José López Castillo (22 December 2007 – 25 March 2020), retired
• Polito Rodríguez Méndez (28 June 2024 – Present)

Coadjutor bishop

• Enrique María Dubuc Moreno (1926), succeeded

Auxiliary bishops

• Marcial Augusto Ramírez Ponce (1967–1970), appointed Bishop of La Guaira
• Eduardo Herrera Riera (1970–1994), appointed Bishop of Carora
• José Luis Azuaje Ayala (1999–2006), appointed Bishop of El Vigia-San Carlos del Zulia

Other priest of this diocese who became bishop

• Manuel Felipe Díaz Sánchez, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Cumaná in 1997

Province

Its ecclesiastical province comprises the Metropolitan's own archbishopric and the following Suffragan sees:

• Diocese of Acarigua–Araure
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Carora
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Guanare
• Roman Catholic Diocese of San Felipe, Venezuela

See also

• Catholic Church in Venezuela

External links

• GCatholic.org, with incumbent biography links
• Catholic Hierarchy ^{[self-published]}