May the Pope's dream come true: story of Freddy, priest in Ecuador

Freddy Arigo Llerena Guerrero is a 36-year-old priest from the diocese of Ibarra, Ecuador. He was ordained on June 25, 2016, almost ten years ago, and his story today represents the real impact that a solid formation can have on the life of a priest and on an entire community.

Last year he returned to Pamplona to finish his degree in Biblical Theology at the Ecclesiastical Faculties of the University of Navarra. Today, back in Ecuador, he devotes himself every day to live an authentic vocation of service to others and to the Church.

The Ecuadorian context

The testimony of this young Ecuadorian priest takes on special relevance in a country marked by enormous contrasts, rich in culture and resources, but with a management deficit in recent decades, which has favored drug trafficking, organized crime, extortion and kidnappings, causing considerable insecurity.

In addition, as in many regions of Europe, Central and South America, the number of vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life in his country has also decreased.

“In spite of everything, our people keep hope alive.”

However, neither the Ecuadorian people nor their priests have lost hope. Freddy sums it up: “In spite of everything, our people keep hope alive. There is a deep devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and an intimate love for the Virgin Mary, expressed in multiple manifestations of popular religiosity. This simple faith makes many people continue to look to the Church with confidence, even in the midst of their weaknesses, recognizing her as mother and guide in difficult times”.

With the help of benefactors and partners of Fundación CARF

Freddy is one of the many priests who have received a solid and integral formation with the help of the benefactors, partners and friends of the CARF Foundation.

Thanks to this preparation, today he can better respond to the pastoral challenges of his native land, accompany the faithful in difficult times and strengthen Christian life where it is most needed.

On the other hand, Freddy also emphasizes the hope that has been transmitted to him by seeing the spiritual awakening of many young people in Spain during his formative period in Pamplona, a sign that faith continues to bear fruit in different parts of the world.

A campaign to transform countries

Like Freddy, thousands of vocations need support in order to be trained, reports the CARF Foundation, which has launched the campaign “Make the Pope's dream come true”. Its goal is to provide seminarians and diocesan priests from all over the world with a solid and integral formation.

Pope Leo XIV has recently recalled this with simplicity and depth in his apostolic letter ‘Loyalty that generates future’The identity of priests is constituted around their being for and is inseparable from their mission“.

The campaign recalls that many young men have heard the call to the priesthood and wish to serve, accompany, administer the sacraments and bring God closer to their people, but do not always have the financial means to prepare themselves adequately.

Support for the formation of seminarians and priests in 130 countries

Since its creation, the CARF Foundation has accompanied seminarians and priests from 130 countries, enabling them to return to their dioceses better prepared to serve and, in turn, to form others. 

For this reason, the Church takes special care in the formation of future priests so that they will be men who are humanly, spiritually and pastorally prepared, capable of accompanying their communities and serving people where they are most needed. This is what the CARF Foundation has been doing since 1989, according to its leaders.

In many countries around the world there are people with a vocation to the priesthood where faith is strong, but resources are scarce. That is where help makes a difference.

The dream continues

Behind every vocation supported there is a story, a family, a community and a future priest ready to give himself to others.

The story of Freddy Arigo Llerena Guerrero today puts a face to that dream: that no young man with a vocation be left without formation due to lack of resources and that the Church continue to have priests who are prepared, close and dedicated to the service of people.