Bishop Dimas Antonio Acuña Jiménez

Msgr. Dimas Antonio Acuña Jiménez was born in Usiacurí, in the department of Atlántico and the Archdiocese of Barranquilla, on 25 January 1972. He carried out his studies in philosophy and theology at the Juan XXIII Major Seminary of Barranquilla. He was awarded a licentiate in theology from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana of Bogotá, specialized in Contemporary Philosophy at the Universidad del Norte in Barranquilla, and studied biblical theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, where the Vatican profile states that he received a licentiate in biblical theology. He was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Barranquilla on 22 August 1998 by Monsignor Félix María Torres. Among his pastoral assignments, he served as parish vicar of San Pancracio from 1997 to 1998 and of María Reina Cathedral in 1999; parish priest of Our Lady of Fátima in 2000, Saint Charles Borromeo in 2001, Saint Augustine in 2002, Christ the King from 2009 to 2010, Saint Laura in 2013, and Our Lady of Torcoroma from 2020; formator of the Juan XXIII Major Seminary from 2003 to 2008; and rector of the Juan XXIII Major Seminary from 2014 to 2020. He was also a member of the Presbyteral Council and the Economic Council from 2014 to 2020, and delegate for university pastoral care and pastoral care of artists in the Archdiocese of Barranquilla. On 15 May 2024 Pope Francis appointed him the new bishop of the Diocese of El Banco, an ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the department of Magdalena. He received episcopal ordination on 27 July 2024 in the Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Barranquilla from Archbishop Pablo Emiro Salas Anteliz, metropolitan archbishop of Barranquilla. He took possession of the assigned see on 9 September 2024.