Pope Leo XIV has appointed Carlos Márquez, auxiliary bishop of Caracas and titular of the symbolic Cefala, as the new administrator of Guarenas following the death of Tulio Ramírez, bishop of this suffragan jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Caracas.
Monsignor Márquez Delima was born in Caracas on December 29, 1961. He was ordained a permanent deacon of the Archdiocese of Caracas on August 6, 1998, and ordained a priest on July 25, 2003.
He has a diploma in Dogmatic Theology, in Catechetical Pastoral and General Pastoral from the Institute of Theology for Latin America (formerly Itepal) and a degree in Religious Pedagogy from the Universidad Católica Santa Rosa de Lima.
Pastoral tasks
He has held the following pastoral positions: pastoral trainer at the Major Seminary of Caracas, as well as an English teacher (1998-2000). Director of the Archdiocesan Secretariat of Catechesis (2000-2022).
He has also been the parish priest of San Lucas parish, El Llanito (2003-2004), in María Madre del Redentor, Los Naranjos (2004-2006), and in El Buen Pastor, Bello Campo (2006-2022).
He was in charge of adult vocations of the Archdiocese (2006-2017). Member of the Presbyteral Council (2006-2022). Founder and director of the Archdiocesan School for the Formation of Permanent Deacons (2008-present). Member of the College of Consultants (2016-2019). Episcopal vicar for the Permanent Diaconate (2018). Episcopal vicar for Catechesis and the Formation of Laity (2018-2022) and general vicar (2020-2022).
It is important to remember that an apostolic administrator is directly appointed by the Pope to temporarily govern a diocese, archdiocese, or ecclesiastical jurisdiction when extraordinary circumstances arise or the see becomes vacant.
It is provisional in nature and the powers of an apostolic administrator are defined by the papal mandate and Canon Law under the principle of "nihil innovetur" (do not innovate anything substantial during the vacancy).
Mourning for the bishop of Guarenas
On August 12, Monsignor Tulio Ramírez Padilla, 66 years old, passed away. Since 2020, he had been shepherding Guarenas, a diocese located in the state of Miranda, with more than 400 thousand faithful.
The Venezuelan Episcopal Conference expressed its condolences and thanked God for his “generous commitment to the service of the Church and his tireless pastoral and communicational work.”
According to sources from the diocese itself, the bishop had been suffering from “a respiratory infection” for which he had been hospitalized for several days in Caracas.
Legacy of the second bishop of Guarenas
Monsignor Ramírez was born in Caracas on February 28, 1960. He studied at the Santa Rosa de Lima Seminary in Caracas and then in Spain, at the San Ildefonso Conciliar Seminary in Toledo. He obtained a bachelor's degree in Sacred Theology in 1984.
He was ordained a priest on August 5, 1984, at the age of 24. In 1996, he graduated in Canon Law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.
On April 4, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of Caracas, receiving episcopal ordination on July 8 of that same year.
In the Episcopate, he was president of the Communication Commission of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference, director of Programming at Radio María Venezuela, and vice-postulator of the Cause for Beatification of Saint José Gregorio Hernández.
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