Archbishop of Florencia
Omar de Jesús Mejía Giraldo was born in the town of El Santuario on January 21, 1966. He was ordained a priest on November 16, 1991, and studied Philosophy and Theology at the *Cristo Sacerdote* National Major Seminary in La Ceja. He earned a licentiate degree in Philosophy and Religious Sciences from the Catholic University of the East (*Universidad Católica de Oriente*) in Rionegro and in Dogmatic Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He served as a formator at the *Nuestra Señora* Diocesan Seminary, diocesan delegate for youth and vocational ministry, parochial vicar at the *Nuestra Señora del Carmen* parish in El Carmen de Viboral, and director of the pastoral department at the Catholic University of the East in Rionegro. Additionally, he served as vice-rector and, from 2008, as rector of the *Cristo Sacerdote* National Seminary in La Ceja. On April 27, 2013, His Holiness Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of Florencia. He received episcopal ordination on June 29 of that same year and took possession of the assigned see on July 11, 2013. On July 13, 2019, Pope Francis elevated the Diocese of Florencia to the dignity of an Archdiocese and promoted Monsignor Omar de Jesús Mejía Giraldo to the position of Archbishop of this ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The ceremony elevating this particular Church took place on Wednesday, September 18, 2019, and Monsignor Omar Mejía took canonical possession of the see on September 19. Since May 2021, he has served as Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of San Vicente del Caguán.