"My name is Victor Manuel Martinez, I am from the diocese of San Vicente, El Salvador. I am 33 years old. I was ordained presbyter on April 5, 2014, this year 2022 I have completed eight years of presbyteral ministry.

The first year I was vice rector at the minor seminary of my diocese, then I became vicar of the Cathedral. In 2020, through the generous help of many benefactors, God granted me the opportunity to begin my degree in Canon Law. This May 2022 I will complete the second year (the third year is still to come). The second year of the degree is much more demanding than the first, but at the same time exciting, because dealing with topics such as marriage or the judicial processes of the Church, have opened many fields of work, have given me new ideas and initiatives to apply them in the problems that occur in pastoral life.

There are two issues that I have thought a lot about: on the one hand, the streamlining of marriage causes. In my diocese there are causes of marriage annulment that, due to the lack of prepared people, are years behind schedule. During the time I was working in my diocese I knew several cases in which people wanted to resolve their personal situation, but they had been waiting for years. And studying the subject of Marriage Law has given me ideas on how to speed up the process. There are already the mechanisms for this, what is needed are the people to set in motion the processes already proposed.

The other issue is that of the mechanisms of protection against possible criminal actions. In delving into Canon Law, I have discovered that the Church already has a series of mechanisms that are, in short, measures to protect and guarantee that decisions are made with the greatest possible transparency. Certainly there is always more and better things can be done. And perhaps the lack of knowledge of Canon Law has led to situations that we regret today in the treatment of suspected criminal situations.

There are many people who generously, with personal sacrifice, make it possible for priests to gain access to studies in the Ecclesiastical Faculties at the University of Navarra. Our most sincere thanks are the prayers, especially at Holy Mass, that we offer for our benefactors. What they generously sow redounds not only to the good of our priestly formation and our dioceses, but to the good of the whole Church, for in the end we are one family.

May God richly reward your generous help. Your servant in Christ Jesus".