Archdiocese of Maracaibo

Archdiocese of Maracaibo
Basic data
Country	Venezuela
Diocesan bishop	José Luis Azuaje Ayala
Emeritus diocesan bishop	Ubaldo Ramón Santana Sequera FMI
founding	1897
surface	12,319 km²
Parishes	67 ( 12/31/2014 / AP2016 )
Residents	2,395,000 ( 12/31/2014 / AP2016 )
Catholics	2,222,000 (December 31, 2014 / AP2016 )
proportion of	92.8%
Diocesan priest	94 (31.12.2014 / AP2016 )
Religious priest	37 (December 31, 2014 / AP2016 )
Catholics per priest	16,962
Permanent deacons	21 (December 31, 2014 / AP2016 )
Friars	47 (December 31, 2014 / AP2016 )
Religious sisters	204 ( 12/31/2014 / AP2016 )
rite	Roman rite
Liturgical language	Spanish
cathedral	Catedral de San Pedro y San Pablo
Suffragan dioceses	Diocese of Cabimas Diocese of El Vigía-San Carlos del Zulia

Maracaibo Cathedral

Universidad Católica Cecilio Acosta

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Maracaibo ( lat. : Archidioecesis Maracaibensis , span. : Archidiócesis de Maracaibo ) is in Venezuela situated Roman Catholic diocese based in Maracaibo . It covers the eastern part of the Venezuelan state of Zulia .

history

Pope Leo XII. founded the Diocese of Zulia on July 28, 1897 from cessions of territory from the Archdiocese of Mérida and it was subordinated to the Archdiocese of Caracas, Santiago de Venezuela as a suffragan . On June 11, 1923, it became part of the ecclesiastical province of the Archdiocese of Mérida .

On January 2, 1953, it took the name of Maracaibo Diocese. It was raised to the rank of metropolitan archbishopric on April 30, 1966. In 1983 the Catholic University Universidad Católica Cecilio Acosta was founded in Maracaibo .

It lost parts of its territory in favor of the establishment of the following dioceses:

• May 26, 1943 to the Vicariate Apostolic Machiques ;
• July 23, 1965 to the Diocese of Barinas ;
• July 7, 1994 to the Diocese of El Vigía-San Carlos del Zulia .

Ordinaries

Bishops of Zulia

• Francisco Marvéz (October 21, 1897– December 17, 1904)
• Arturo Alvarez Celestino (August 16, 1910– December 18, 1919, then Coadjutor Bishop of Calabozo )
• Marcos Sergio Godoy (March 8, 1920– January 2, 1953)

Bishops of Maracaibo

• Marcos Sergio Godoy (January 2, 1953– October 21, 1957)
• José Rafael Pulido Méndez (June 21, 1958– January 16, 1961, then coadjutor archbishop of Mérida )
• Domingo Pérez Roa (January 16, 1961– April 30, 1966)

Archbishops of Maracaibo

• Domingo Pérez Roa (April 30, 1966– December 23, 1992)
• Ramón Pérez Ovidio Morales (December 23, 1992– June 5, 1999, then Archbishop ad personam of Los Teques )
• Ubaldo Ramón Santana Sequera FMI (November 11, 2000- May 24, 2018)
• José Luis Azuaje Ayala (since May 24, 2018)

statistics

year	population			priest				Permanent deacons	Religious		Parishes
	Catholics	Residents	%	Total number	Diocesan priest	Religious priest	Catholics per priest		male	Female
1949	286,000	290,000	98.6	49	29	20th	5,836		34	150	21st
1966	620,000	650,000	95.4	132	44	88	4,696		120	318	31
1970	760,000	800,000	95.0	142	48	94	5,352		141	320	43
1976	950,000	1,100,000	86.4	111	35	76	8,558		104	178	50
1980	815,000	865,000	94.2	120	36	84	6,791		98	300	51
1990	1,415,000	1,505,000	94.0	125	45	80	11,320		92	295	55
1999	1,747,000	2,083,785	83.8	142	79	63	12.302	4th	92	296	60
2000	1,785,000	2,100,000	85.0	130	69	61	13,730	4th	91	300	60
2001	1,785,000	2,100,000	85.0	133	72	61	13,421	4th	91	300	60
2002	1,785,000	2,100,000	85.0	136	75	61	13,125	4th	91	300	60
2003	1,625,415	1,888,000	86.1	128	73	55	12,698	4th	83	273	66
2004	1,863,690	2,006,757	92.9	121	71	50	15,402	7th	71	275	65

See also

• Roman Catholic Church in Venezuela
• List of Roman Catholic Dioceses

Web links

• Entry for Archdiocese of Maracaibo on catholic-hierarchy.org
• Entry on Archdiocese of Maracaibo on gcatholic.org (English)

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