CALABOZO, Diocese of. — In the republic of Venezuela, State of Guárico, a suffragan of Santiago de Venezuela. Founded on 7 March 1863, it received its first bishop only in 1880.
The diocese comprises, besides the State of Guárico, parts of the States of Apure, Zamora, Portuguesa and Cojedes, with a Catholic population of 198,000; it possesses about seventy churches and chapels and a minor seminary (students of philosophy and theology are sent to the seminary in Caracas). It has 20 parishes; the clergy consists of 20 secular priests and 5 regulars (1948). Among the religious monuments, special mention should be made of the cathedral and the church of Las Mercedes.
BIBL.: N. E. Navarro, Anales eclesiásticos venezolanos, Caracas 1929. Pietro Gómez