Bishop José Camilo Arbeláez Montoya

José Camilo Arbeláez Montoya is Bishop of Vélez, Colombia. José Camilo Arbeláez Montoya was born on 18 June 1961 in Bogotá; the diocesan source also gives Bogotá D.C. He was ordained a priest on 25 November 1995 and incardinated in the Archdiocese of Medellín. He is a veterinarian from the University of Antioquia, a theologian from the Pontifical Bolivarian University (UPB) of Medellín, and holds licentiates in Moral Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and in Biblical Studies from the University of Antioquia. After studying theology and philosophy at the Juan Pablo II Major Seminary for Professionals in Medellín and at the Pontifical Bolivarian University of Medellín, he obtained the licentiate in Moral Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. Over almost three decades of priestly ministry, Father Arbeláez accumulated broad experience in pastoral, formation, and administrative work. Among his pastoral roles, he served as vice rector of the Minor Seminary of Medellín (1996) and later as rector of the Juan Pablo II Seminary for Professionals (2011-2014). He served as vice chancellor of the Archdiocese of Medellín (2011-2014) and was a member of the Presbyteral Council (2016-2019). He served as parish priest in several communities, including San Andrés Apóstol (1996-1998), Nuestra Señora de Lourdes (2011-2014), La Niña María (2014-2021), and most recently La Visitación (2021-2025). He was chaplain at institutions of the UPB, including the clinic (1998) and the Faculty of Medicine (2001-2004), and archdiocesan ecclesiastical adviser of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal (2001-2011) and national adviser (2005-2015). During his studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University (1998-2000), he also served as director of the study house of the Archdiocese of Medellín in the Italian capital. He was archpriest of the San Marcos Evangelista zone (2014-2016). He has presided over the Pan y Paraíso Foundation since 2001, an institution whose mission is to attend to the needs of children in vulnerable communities by developing programs of food assistance and spiritual care; the diocesan source states he has been president of that foundation since 2021. On 14 November 2025, the Holy Father Pope Leo XIV appointed Father José Camilo as the new bishop of the Diocese of Vélez. This appointment ended a period of vacant see in that diocese that had extended from April 2023. On 24 January 2026 he received episcopal ordination from Archbishop Ricardo Tobón Restrepo of Medellín. On 29 January 2026, he took canonical possession as the third bishop of the Diocese of Vélez. Present at the ceremony was the apostolic nuncio in Colombia, Archbishop Paolo Rudelli, who publicly read the pontifical bulls issued by the Holy Father that made official his appointment and pastoral authority. Bishop Arbeláez Montoya succeeded in the episcopal see of Vélez Bishop Marco Antonio Merchán Ladino, who was transferred by Pope Francis to the Diocese of Neiva on 14 April 2023. During these almost two years of transition, the administration of the Santander diocese was in the charge of Father José Ricardo Santos Rodríguez as diocesan administrator.