The Holy Father has appointed as bishop of Santa Marta, Colombia, the Reverend Fr. José Mario Bacci Trespalacios, C.I.M., until now provincial superior of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary in Colombia.

Msgr. José Mario Bacci Trespalacios, C.I.M., was born on March 19, 1971 in Magangué. He studied philosophy at the San Carlos Borromeo Major Seminary of Cartagena and in the Valmaría Eudist Seminary in Bogotá, and theology at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá.

He obtained a licentiate in dogmatic theology from the same university, and in sacred Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome and in the Biblical School of Jerusalem.

He received priestly ordination on December 17, 1995.

He was responsible for the preparatory year of the Seminario Mayor Cristo Sacerdote in Ambato, Ecuador, and was head of the National Pre-Philosophate, and parish vicar in Yamasá, Dominican Republic. From 2000 to 2003 he served as rector of the São José Major Seminary of Philosophy of the metropolitan archdiocese of Fortaleza, Brazil; from 2003 to 2007, of the São José Major Seminary of Santos, Brazil, and from 2012 to 2016 of the Nuestra Señora de Suyapa Major Seminary of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. From 2016 until the present, he has held the office of provincial superior of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary in Colombia.

The diocese of Santa Marta was established on January 10, 1534, by Pope Clement VII from the cession of territory from the diocese of Santo Domingo. On September 11, 1562, the diocese of Santa Marta gave up parts of its territory to establish the diocese of Santafé en Nueva Granada. The diocese of Santa Marta gave on January 17, 1905 parts of its territory to found the Apostolic Vicariate Guajira. Further assignments of territory took place on October 26, 1962, to found the diocese of Ocaña and on January 17, 2006, to found the Diocese of El Banco.

The diocese of Santa Marta is subordinate to the Archdiocese of Barranquilla as a suffragan.