Diocese of Barinas
The Diocese of Barinas is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of Mérida, in western Venezuela's land-locked Barinas state.
Its cathedral is the Catedral de Nuestra Señora del Pilar, dedicated to Our Lady of the Pillar, located in the eponymous state capital Barinas.
History
- On 23 July 1965 Pope Paul VI established the Diocese of Barinas on territories split off from the Diocese of Calabozo and from their Metropolitan, Mérida in Venezuela.
- It lost territory on 3 December 2015 to establish the Roman Catholic Diocese of Guasdualito, in the same province.
Bishops
Episcopal ordinaries
;Suffragan Bishops of Barinas- Rafael Angel González Ramírez
- Antonio José López Castillo ; previously Titular Bishop of Theuzi and Auxiliary Bishop of Maracaibo, Metropolitan Archbishop of Barquisimeto
- Ramón Antonio Linares Sandoval, previously Bishop of Puerto Cabello ; later Apostolic Administrator of Acarigua–Araure
- José Luis Azuaje Ayala, also Vice-President of Episcopal Conference of Venezuela ; previously titular Bishop of Italica and Auxiliary Bishop of Barquisimeto, Apostolic Administrator of El Vigía–San Carlos del Zulia, promoted Bishop of El Vigía–San Carlos del Zulia
- Jesús Alfonso Guerrero Contreras, OFMCap, previously titular Bishop of Leptiminus and Vicar Apostolic of Caroní, Bishop of Machiques
Auxiliary bishops
- José Vicente Henriquez Andueza, SDB, appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Caracas, Santiago de Venezuela
- Alejandro Figueroa Medina, appointed Bishop of Guanare
Other priest of this diocese who became bishop
- Polito Rodríguez Méndez, appointed Bishop of San Carlos de Venezuela in 2016