Bishop José Mario Bacci Trespalacios

Bishop José Mario Bacci Trespalacios was born in Magangué, Bolívar, on 19 March 1971. He entered the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, the Eudist Fathers, on 19 August 1995, and on 17 December of the same year he was ordained a priest. He began formation for priestly life at the San Carlos Borromeo Seminary in Cartagena for the Diocese of Magangué, where he completed the propaedeutic year in 1988 and the philosophy stage in 1989-1990. At the beginning of the theology stage he entered the Congregation of Jesus and Mary and studied theology at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in 1991-1994. He undertook licentiate studies in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome in 2007-2011 and spent a semester of studies at the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem in 2011. In the exercise of the fundamental charism of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, he lived his 25 years of ministerial life in the service of priestly formation in diocesan seminaries in Ecuador in 1994-1999, the Dominican Republic in 1999-2001, Brazil in 2001-2007, and Honduras in 2012-2016. In those places he held various responsibilities: member of the formation team, in charge of academic formation, teacher of Sacred Scripture, and rector. Some of those seminaries were linked to nearby parishes, and in them he collaborated regularly in pastoral activities. From 2016 he was Provincial Superior of the Eudist Province of Colombia, and in 2019 he was renewed in this service within his Congregation. On 19 November 2021, Pope Francis appointed him Bishop of Santa Marta. His episcopal ordination and canonical possession were celebrated on 25 January 2022. On 17 January 2023, Pope Francis appointed him apostolic administrator of the Diocese of El Banco, Magdalena. The son of Eddie Ernesto Bacci Vecchio and Inés Isabel Trespalacios Posada, he was born on 19 March 1971 in Magangué, Bolívar. He has 3 siblings: Paulo Ernesto, Rodolfo, and Mónica Inés. He lived his childhood and adolescence in Magangué. Educated in the faith within a Christian family, he made his first communion on 8 April 1982, Holy Thursday. He himself recalls the date precisely because it meant for him the beginning of a life of faith of continual deepening and maturity. He does not hesitate to recognize that this was his first encounter with Jesus Christ, the bread of life. He completed primary school at Colegio Marco Fidel Suárez and secondary school at the Instituto Técnico Cultural Diocesano. Thanks to the vocational-promotion activities of the Diocese of Magangué and to accompanying dialogue especially with Bishop José Lecuona, he decided to enter the Major Seminary of Cartagena, San Carlos Borromeo, for the Diocese of Magangué. There he completed philosophy studies in 1988-1990. At the end of the philosophical stage of formation for priestly life, he asked to enter the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, the Eudist Fathers. He was admitted to probation on 19 August 1991. He lived the theological stage of formation at the Eudist Fathers' Valmaría seminary in Bogotá in 1991-1994, and at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana he completed theological studies. After completing initial formation, he was incorporated into the Congregation of Jesus and Mary on 19 August 1995. On that same day he was ordained a deacon, and on 17 December of that same year he was ordained a priest. During his 26 years of priestly life he exercised his ministry fundamentally as a formator of priests in major seminaries of Latin America. Normally in those same places he gave constant help in missionary and apostolic works entrusted in the dioceses to the pastoral animation of the Eudists. From 1994 to 1999 he was a member of the formation team of the Cristo Sacerdote Major Seminary of the Diocese of Ambato, Ecuador. There he was also in charge of the propaedeutic year and was prefect of studies. From 1999 to 2001 he was rector of the Yamasá Pre-Philosophate in the Dominican Republic. In 2001 the Pre-Philosophate was moved to Santo Domingo and the Eudists handed over the direction of this institution to the Archdiocese of Santo Domingo. Then, from 2001 to 2007, he was sent to Brazil. First, in the Archdiocese of Fortaleza, Brazil, he was appointed rector of the Philosophy Seminary. This seminary received the seminarians of the dioceses of Regional Nordeste-I of the CNBB, the Conference of the Bishops of Brazil. He was then transferred to Santos, Brazil, to take up a new service as rector of the San José Major Seminary. This seminary had two sites: one in Santos for the philosophers and another in São Paulo for the theologians. The rector accompanied the theology students in São Paulo. After this time of mission in Brazil, he was sent for specialization studies in Rome. From 2007 to 2011 he studied Sacred Scripture at the Biblical Institute in Rome. His final dissertation was Una lectura narrativa del final canónico del evangelio de Marcos (16, 1-8). His work was directed by Professor Noël Aletti, sj. Within the Biblical Institute's study plan, he lived for 6 months at L'ecole biblique de Jerusalem, directed by the Dominican Fathers, in Jerusalem. After completing his studies he was sent to Honduras and was appointed rector of the Nuestra Señora de Suyapa Major Seminary, which receives all the seminarians of the country, 10 dioceses, except those of the Diocese of Comayagua. After this service, from 2012 to 2016, he was appointed Provincial Superior of the Eudist Province of Colombia. He exercised this service for 2 consecutive terms. The Province of Colombia comprises the Eudist works of 6 countries: Mexico, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Colombia, Ecuador, and Brazil. On 19 November 2021 Pope Francis appointed him forty-ninth Bishop of Santa Marta. His episcopal ordination and possession took place in the Cathedral of Santa Marta on 25 January 2022, the feast day of the conversion of Saint Paul.