Bishop of Barrancabermeja
Monsignor Ovidio Giraldo Velásquez was born in Montebonito, Caldas, on January 27, 1963, the son of José Otoniel Giraldo and Judith Velásquez, a couple of rural background. He has two siblings. He completed his secondary education at the Normal School in Manizales and subsequently entered the *Nuestra Señora del Rosario* Major Seminary in Manizales, where he pursued his studies in philosophy and theology. He was ordained a priest on February 18, 1989, and incardinated into the Diocese of La Dorada-Guaduas. Some years later, he was sent to Rome, where he obtained a Licentiate in Philosophy from the Gregorian University in 1994. He served as National Director of the New Evangelization Network (2013–2020). On May 29, 2020, Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of the Diocese of Barrancabermeja; he received episcopal ordination on July 22 of that same year in the Diocese of Pereira at the Cathedral of *Nuestra Señora de la Pobreza*, at the hands of Monsignor Rigoberto Corredor Bermúdez. He took possession of his episcopal see on August 8, 2020.