Melkite Greek Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Venezuela

Melkite (Greek) Catholic Apostolic Exarchate of Venezuela (in Latin: Exarchatus Apostolicus Caracensis Graecorum Melkitarum, meaning - of Caracas) is an exarchate (missionary pre-diocesan jurisdiction) of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, a Greek language Byzantine Rite Eastern Catholic church in communion with other Catholic Churches.

The Apostolic exarchate is exempt, i.e. directly subject to the Holy See (notably the Roman Congregation for the Oriental Churches), not part of any (Melkite or Roman Catholic) ecclesiastical province, and encompasses Venezuela.

The Exarch's cathedral see is the Cathedral of St. George, in the national capital city Caracas, which also has the see of the Latin Metropolitan Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Caracas, Santiago de Venezuela.

Territory and statistics

The Apostolic Exarchate extends to all the faithful of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in Venezuela.

The territory is divided into five parishes and had 25,000 Melkite Catholics in 2010.

History

Melkite Catholic Immigration in Venezuela, especially from Aleppo in Syria, dates back to the early decades of the twentieth century and intensified in particular between the two world wars.

In 1957 for the first time, a priest of the Society of the Missionaries of St. Paul, Gabriel Dick, took pastoral care of the Melkite community in the country.

The Apostolic Exarchate of Venezuela was erected on 19 February 1990 with the Papal Bull Quo longius^[2] of Pope John Paul II.^[3][4]

Incumbent Ordinaries

Conform the Eastern tradition, ordinaries are generally monks, so far of the Basilian Aleppian Order (B.A.)

• Boutros Raï, B.A. (19 February 1990 - 7 June 1994 deceased)
• Georges Kahhalé Zouhaïraty, B.A. (12 October 1995 – ...)

See also

• Roman Catholicism in Venezuela

References

Sources and External links

• GigaCatholic, with ordinary biography links
• http://www.pgc-lb.org/fre/melkite_greek_catholic_church/Apostolic-Exarchate-of-Venezuela*