Bishop of El Vigia-San Carlos del Zulia
Bishop Juan de Dios Peña Rojas was born on 8 August 1967 in Acequias, metropolitan archdiocese of Mérida. After studying philosophy and theology at the Seminario San Buenaventura of Mérida, he was awarded a licentiate in theology from the Santa Rosa de Lima University Institute in Caracas, and in Church history from the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome. He was ordained a priest on 22 August 1992, and incardinated into the metropolitan archdiocese of Mérida. He was appointed bishop of El Vigía-San Carlos del Zulia on 17 April 2015, receiving episcopal ordination the following 4 July. Within the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference, he is a member of the Youth Commission and the Commission for Catechesis and Biblical Pastoral Ministry. Consecration of coadjutor bishop of Bameng, China Today, Wednesday 29 July 2026, the episcopal ordination of the Reverend Francis Xavier Duan Yongkun took place. On 15 June 2026, the Holy Father appointed him coadjutor bishop of Bameng (Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China), having approved his candidacy within the framework of the Provisional Agreement between the Holy See and the People’s Republic of China.