Geraldo Ramírez Torres
Geraldo Ramirez Torres - known to his people as Father Jerry - was born on November 17, 1967, in Villalba, Puerto Rico, the tenth of thirteen children of Andres Ramirez Torres and Emma Torres Rivera. Formed by a devout family and by the Marianist priests and brothers who taught him, he entered the Major Seminary Regina Cleri of the Diocese of Ponce in 1985 and took his bachelor's degree in theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico. He was ordained a deacon on June 29, 1991, and a priest on November 19, 1991, by Bishop Juan Fremiot Torres Oliver.
His whole priesthood was spent in the diocese that raised him: parish priest and chaplain in several Ponce parishes, parish priest of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe from 2004, parish priest also of Nuestra Senora de la Merced from 2024, and vicar general of the diocese from 2021. At the twenty-fifth anniversary of his ordination in 2016 he told El Visitante de Puerto Rico that he had accepted the call aware he was not the best clay, but convinced that God is the greatest and best potter.
On June 24, 2026, Pope Leo XIV accepted the resignation of Bishop Ruben Gonzalez Medina and appointed Ramirez Torres the ninth Bishop of Ponce - the first priest born, raised and trained entirely in the diocese to be made its bishop. He was consecrated and installed on August 15, 2026, the Solemnity of the Assumption. His episcopal motto is Mane nobiscum Domine - Stay with us, Lord - from the disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Ramirez Torres inherited a diocese in which the older form has no documented presence: Paix Liturgique reported it no longer offered in Ponce years before Traditionis Custodes, and current island listings cover only San Juan and Arecibo. There is no FSSP, ICKSP or SSPX presence in the diocese.
In the ten weeks between his consecration on August 15, 2026, and the as_of date he has issued no decree, permission or public statement on the older form that can be found in the public record, and as vicar general before that the liturgical governance of the diocese was his predecessor's, not his.
On the old Mass, his record so far is the record he inherited.