Vicar Apostolic of San Ramón
Born in Lendava, in the Diocese of Maribor (Slovenia), on June 11, 1950. He completed his primary education in his hometown and his secondary education—as an aspirant to religious life—at the House of Studies of the Croatian Franciscan Province. He pursued his philosophical studies at the Franciscan Institute of Philosophy and Theology in Rijeka (Croatia) and his theological studies at the Faculty of Theology in Zagreb (Croatia). He concluded his formation in Oxapampa, within the Apostolic Vicariate of San Ramón. Two days after his Solemn Profession, he was ordained a priest on November 9, 1975. He belongs to the Franciscan Order, specifically the Missionary Province of San Francisco Solano in Peru. He has carried out his ministry exclusively within the Apostolic Vicariate of San Ramón: first as an assistant vicar and later as the parish priest of the vast Atalaya Parish. Since 2002, Msgr. Zerdín has served as the Bishop of the Vicariate of San Ramón, which comprises the province of Oxapampa (Cerro de Pasco), the provinces of Chanchamayo and Satipo (Junín), and the greater part of the province of Atalaya (Ucayali). He also serves as President of the Episcopal Commission for Catechesis and Biblical Pastoral Care, having been re-elected for the 2022–2025 term.