Ordination July 30, 1967 Name Baltazar Porras | In office 1991- present See Archdiocese of Merida | |
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Born October 10, 1944Caracas ( 1944-10-10 ) Role Archbishop of Archdiocese of Merida Predecessor Miguel Antonio Salas Salas | ||
Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo (born 10 October 1944) is a Venezuelan Roman Catholic cardinal and the current Archbishop of Mérida. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1967 and later consecrated to the episcopate in 1983 while Pope Francis created him a cardinal on 19 November 2016.
He is the Cardinal-Priest of Santi Giovanni Evangelista e Petronio.
Life
Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo was born on 10 October 1944 in Caracas.
He was ordained to the priesthood on 30 July 1967. He was appointed as the Auxiliary Bishop of Mérida on 23 July 1983 and as such received his episcopal consecration on 17 September 1983 from Cardinal José Lebrún Moratinos. He was later appointed as the Archbishop of Mérida on 31 October 1991 and replaced Miguel Antonio Salas Salas who had ordained him as a priest. In June 2009 he and other Venezuelan bishops visited Pope Benedict XVI for their "ad limina" visit.
Pope Francis - in his Angelus address on 9 October 2016 - announced that he would create him as a cardinal on 19 November 2016.