Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo


Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo is a Venezuelan prelate of the Catholic Church, who has been a bishop since 1983 and a cardinal since 2016. He has been the Archbishop of Mérida since 1991.

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 received his episcopal consecration on 17 September 1983 from Cardinal José Lebrún Moratinos. He was appointed the Archbishop of Mérida on 31 October 1991, replacing Miguel Antonio Salas Salas who had ordained him as a priest.
Pope Francis announced on 9 October 2016 that he would make him a cardinal at a consistory on 19 November 2016. At that consistory Porras was named Cardinal-Priest of Santi Giovanni Evangelista e Petronio.
Francis made him a member of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life on 23 December 2017.
Pope Francis named him Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Caracas on 9 July 2018. He was named a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture on 11 November 2019.