Luis Rafael Zarama Pasqualetto was born in Pasto, Nariño, Colombia, the oldest of the six children of Rafael Zarama and Maria Pasqualetto de Zarama. Zarama attended the seminary of Pasto and the Universidad Mariana, where he studied philosophy and theology from 1982 to 1987. He began his studies in canon law at the Pontifical Xavierian University in Bogotá in 1987, and earned his licentiate in 1991. In the mid-1980s and while he attended seminary, Zarama also taught at high schools.
Ordination and ministry
Emigrating to the United States in 1989, he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Atlanta on November 27, 1993. Zarama then served as parochial vicar at in Atlanta until 1996. From 1996 to 2006, he was administrator of St. Helena Mission in Clayton and the first Hispanicpastor of St. Mark Parish in Clarkesville. He became an American citizen on July 4, 2000 and said: "I'm happy here, I choose to be here, and I feel like I'm part of the system as a citizen." Within the Court of Appeals of the Ecclesiastical Province of Atlanta, he has been advocate and defender of the bond. Zarama was named assistant director of the in 2000 and vicar general in 2006. He also has been a member of both the Committee for Continuing Education of Priests since 1996 and the Priest Personnel Board since 2004. In 2007, he was raised to the rank of Chaplain of His Holiness. In addition to his duties as vicar general, he became judicial vicar in 2008 and serves as the Archbishop's delegate to North Georgia's Hispanic community.
On July 5, 2017, Pope Francis appointed Zarama Bishop of the diocese of Raleigh. He was installed as Bishop of Raleigh on August 29, 2017, at Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral in Raleigh. He is the first Hispanic and Latino bishop of the Diocese of Raleigh, the first Bishop of Raleigh to have been born outside the United States, and the first Colombian-born bishop to lead a Catholic diocese in the United States. On August 13, 2017 Zarama responded to the resignation of Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick, who allegedly sexually abused minors. Zarama stated that he would be praying for the Church, for Church leadership to be renewed and transformed, and for courage to take the necessary steps to end clerical abuse. He also shared a statement made by Wilton D. Gregory, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Atlanta. Zarama made another statement on August 17, 2018 regarding the sexual abuse scandal in Pennsylvania, calling the revelations "sad" and "shameful". He voiced his support for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' goals to investigate, report, and resolve recent accounts of sexual abuse and for the Church to do so with higher level involvement of the laity. He asked for Catholics to continue to pray for all victims of abuse, stating that they are the Church's priority. On September 5, 2017 Zarama issued a statement in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, calling for comprehensive immigration reform. On March 12, 2020, Zarama officially waved the obligation to attend Sunday Mass throughout the Diocese during the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 14, 2020 Zarama cancelled all weekend Masses in the Diocese until further notice and directed all Catholic schools in the Diocese to comply with Governor Roy Cooper's executive order to close all schools in North Carolina for a minimum of two weeks. On 16 March, Zarama officially suspended all masses, weekday and weekend, throughout the Diocese.
Coat of arms
On a blue field is displayed an extra wide chevron of Gold. This device gives the illusion of two mountains; a gold one and a blue one. The gold mountain is charged with a scattering of red crosses to represent the bishop's home city of Pasto, in southwestern Colombia, which is known as "The Theological City." The lower mountain has a golden lion's head to represent the evangelist Saint Mark, who is the titular patron of the parish in Clarkesville, Georgia, on a mountain, where Bishop Zarama served as pastor. Above the chevron are a gold rose for Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, also known as "The Little Flower," and a silver lily for Saint Joseph, the Foster Father of Jesus, who have served as Bishop Zarama's particular patrons throughout his life as a priest and now as a bishop. Zarama has selected for his motto the Latin phrase Deus Caritas Est, the title of an encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI, and it sums up in a succinct statement all that the Church and Christianity are to be all about sharing the love of God. The achievement is completed with the external ornaments which are a gold episcopal processional cross, that is placed in back of and which extends above and below the shield, and the pontifical hat, called a "galero," with its six tassels, in three rows, on either side of the shield, all in green. These are the heraldic insignia of a prelate of the rank of bishop by instruction of The Holy See of March 31, 1969.
