He was born on June 20, 1961, in the city of
Ilobasco located in the
Department of Cabanas, El Salvador. He grew up and went to
primary and
secondary school in Ilobasco. In his youth he decided to join the path of
priesthood, and joined "The Mission of Fathers of Guatemala," and studied
philosophy. Afterwards he pursued studies in theology in the Seminary of San José of the Mountain in
San Salvador. After being ordained as a priest, he pursued higher education in
Rome, Italy studying at the
Pontifical Gregorian University, where he majored in
Christian theology. On July 5, 1986, he was
ordained as a priest to serve the
Diocese of San Vicente, by the then bishop,
José Oscar Barahona Castillo. Once he returned to El Salvador, he began to exercise his pastoral ministry. From 1989 to 2000, he was an educator at Libro sagrado at the San Jose of the Mountain Seminary in San Salvador, the same Seminary in which he had once studied at. He was also the sub-secretary of the
Episcopal Conference of El Salvador (CEDES), a member of the
International Council for Catechesis (Co.In.Cat.) and a
Military Chaplain. From the year 2000 up until 2008 he was the General Chaplain and
Apostolic administrator of the
Military Ordinariate of El Salvador. == Episcopate ==