Hearing the voice of God anew

The vocation to become a priest is always a special grace and a unique gift. Life as a priest and in the priestly community is a task for the common good and means mastering a wide range of tasks and taking up an office in the name of Jesus every day anew. The priesthood also means taking on responsibility and being a person of trust for Christians.

The Pontifical University of Santa Croce was founded in 1984 on the initiative of John Paul II. The four faculties of Theology, Canon Law, Philosophy and Communication and Church enable Christian-oriented, instructive educational paths and offer Christian teaching units for the further path of life as a priest.

‘We need Christ-filled priests who bring His love to people!’ (Archbishop Dr Georg Gänswein Patron of Priesterausbildungshilfe e. V.)

(Erzbischof Dr. Georg Gänswein Schirmherr des Priesterausbildungshilfe e.V.)

Characterised by Christian devotion and a deep faith, Luis heard the Lord’s call to discipleship while he was still at school. He was born and grew up in the community of Lourdes Norte de Santander in Colombia, in the Christian marriage of Juan Francisco Salazar and Carmen Cucaita. Luis is the fourth of five siblings and has known rural life since childhood, where his parents still dedicate themselves to growing coffee, sugar cane and keeping domestic animals. Luis completed his primary and secondary education in the community. His vocation began to light up as a small flame. Especially in his last school year in 2013, his school was run by Sisters and Servants of Charity. As a result, he was already able to experience the Eucharist on the first Monday of every month.

This helped him to respond to the Lord’s call. Luis had therefore felt an increasingly meaningful sense of beginning a vocation process in the diocese of Cúcuta. In February 2014, he entered the major seminary of San José de Cúcuta, where he studied philosophy and part of theology. In 2019, his bishop at the time, Victor Manuel Ochoa, sent him to Rome to continue his academic studies.

After completing his baccalaureate in philosophy and theology during his five years in the Eternal City, his bishop, Monsignor José Libardo Garces, asked him to do a degree in Institutional Social Communication in the Church. This is a great asset for the future of the entire world church. After all, priests are under attack from so many sides in the media these days, from crises that suddenly emerge and are difficult to contain. The priest who prepares for work in the media is not the one who gives immediate answers. Rather, he is the one who knows the ways to respond to necessary concerns. Concerns that carry the voice of the Church, the voice of the diocese and also the voice of a bishop.

Luis was empowered to profess the faith in his homeland and to protect it in an increasingly media-orientated world. In particular, to do something for life and spiritual growth, also because of the new political currents, such as revolutionary communism or left-wing ideologies, which are directed against life and promote ideals such as abortion and euthanasia.

The foundation for the priesthood is to live as a Christian and to further discover the faith in God within oneself as a seminarian and to live it as a vocation. Every single seminarian is important for the University of Santa Croce and for the priesthood. This path also requires support from society, from the seminarians themselves, from professors, formators and the entire university, as well as from you. To make a contribution to Christianity always and at all times, just as every Christian can do in his or her own endeavours. To be a priest means a lifelong learning, to do something good in God’s faith and for humanity, and to take up a leadership task of great importance for the community and a work in the faith of Christianity.

Perhaps you are needed right now, perhaps you are currently training to become a priest or perhaps you have been assigned another task. Everyone can contribute to maintaining and promoting priestly training.

Help us and be a part of advancing priestly training and opening people’s hearts to God.

We kindly ask you:

Support seminarians like Luis with your prayers and, if at all possible, with your generous donation! Colombia – the world – needs priests like him.

Thank you for your solidarity!