Venezuelan authorities accompany the inauguration of the new Archbishop of Caracas

Published at: 24/08/2024 09:21 PM

The Foreign Minister of the Republic, Yván Gil, together with the deputy to the National Assembly (AN), Nicolás Maduro Guerra, the mayor of Caracas, Carmen Meléndez and other authorities, accompanied this Saturday, August 24, the inauguration of the new Archbishop of Caracas, Monsignor Raúl Biord Castillo .

From the Cathedral of Caracas, the clergy of Caracas, the country's dioceses and a large number of parishioners attended the historic ceremony.

Monsignor Raúl Biord Castillo becomes the seventeenth Archbishop of the city, following the appointment made by Pope Francis at the end of last June. On November 30, 2013, he was also appointed by the supreme pontiff as the fourth bishop of the Diocese of La Guaira.

At his inauguration, Monsignor Biord called for reconciliation among all Venezuelans.

Biord, who was accompanied by at least 35 bishops from all over the country, stressed that he arrived in the capital city without a specific plan for this term, although he reiterated his commitment to go hand in hand with the citizens.

“The doors will be open in the church and the call is to political, social, economic, religious actors, to everyone. We have to think about our people,” said the clergyman.

Monsignor Biord succeeds Baltazar Porras as archbishop of Caracas, who was in charge of the archdiocese since 2023.

Monsignor Biord was born in Caracas on October 23, 1962 and was ordained as a priest on July 15, 1989, in San Antonio de Los Altos.

He obtained degrees in Philosophy (1990) and Fundamental Theology (1996) and a doctorate in Sacred Theology (1997) at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

He has been professor and rector of the Padre Ojeda Salesian University Institute (IUSPO) in Los Teques, professor at the Institute of Theology for Religious (ITER) in Caracas, professor at the diocesan seminaries of Caracas, Maturín and Manaus.

He was also Parish Vicar in the parish of San Juan Bosco de Los Teques, member of the Presbyteral Council (Los Teques), Provincial Vicar of the Salesian Society of San Juan Bosco in Venezuela (2004-2014), Secretary of the Pastoral Theological Commission of the Plenary Council of Venezuela (2000-2005).

In the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference, he has been a member of the Permanent Commission since 2015.

He has also been president of the Episcopal Commission for Ecclesiastical Circumscriptions (2023-2024), a member of the National Pastoral Institute and the National Pastoral Advisory Council, and president of the Episcopal Commission.