Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo was born on 10 October 1944 in
Caracas. He attended Colegio Fray Luis de León and St. Teresa parish school. He studied philosophy at the Saint Rose of Lima Interdiocesan Seminary in Caracas. He earned a licentiate in theology and a doctorate in pastoral theology at the
Pontifical University of Salamanca in Spain. Within the
Episcopal Conference of Latin America (CELAM), he was president of the Department of the Laity from 1995 to 1999 and of the Department of Communication from 2003 to 2007. He served as the organization's first vice president from 2007 to 2011. 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. In September 2019, Pope Francis named him one of the three cardinals to serve as presidents of the Synod for the Amazon. Pope Francis named him Apostolic Administrator of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of
Caracas on 9 July 2018. He was named a member of the
Pontifical Council for Culture on 11 November 2019. Pope Francis appointed him Metropolitan Archbishop of Caracas on 17 January 2023. On August 24, 2024, he was appointed by
Pope Francis as the Pontifical Legate for the
53rd International Eucharistic Congress to be held in
Quito,
Ecuador. ==See also==