Wuillis Azuaje and Rolvin Capistrano (Venezuela and the Philippines respectively) are two priests studying Canon Law at the University of Navarra. Wuillis will be the first canonist of his diocese (Puerto Cabello) and Rolvin will be formed to sow with joy in the environments farthest from God in his country. Thanks to the scholarship of CARF, they both attended the Ecclesiastical Faculties of the UNAV where, besides receiving an integral academic formation, they also experienced the universality of the Church with other priests.
Wuillis Azuaje is 39 years old and is studying for a degree in Canon Law. He is from Venezuela, where, God willing, he will return in June when he finishes his last year of studies. course.
When Wuillis Azuaje (Trujillo-Venezuela,1981) arrived in Pamplona on September 13, 2018. it was the first time I had crossed the Atlantic. Two companions from the San Miguel Residence in the capital of Navarre were waiting for him that Thursday night at the bus station in the capital of Navarre.
As a Venezuelan, he was struck by the character of the Navarrese people.The number of people who were seen walking the streets and the variety of beautiful churches in the city. Also the number of Eucharists that are celebrated daily in his parish (San Miguel): "Nine every day".
He is currently in his final year of his degree in Canon Law and when he returns to Puerto Cabello, the city where he was pastor before coming to study at the University of Navarra, he will be the first canonist of his diocese.
Wuillis Azuaje is the seventh of eight siblings and although he had been educated in Catholicism and even had several relatives who were priests, he assures us that he discovered his vocation little by little.
He had a bad experience in first communion catechesis, which caused her to distance herself somewhat from the faith and she did not receive the sacrament until she was a teenager. By chance he met a Catholic formation group at his high school, where he gradually began to draw closer to God and returned to the parish. "There were about fifty of us young people and we had a great time."
He recalls that in 1998 he had the opportunity to meet a priest of Opus Dei who came to his church to give a talk on Blessed Josemaria Escriva. "I had never heard of him or Opus Dei, but I was impressed to see someone dressed in a cassock and smiling. The image of that priest, the face of St. Josemaría and the curiosity to learn about Opus Dei were engraved in my head. There are many wonderful things in the Church that we don't know about," he says.
When he was 17 years old, and through a friend, he visited the seminary, began to attend the vocational ministry, "even though everyone told me that I was not the best person to enter the seminary because I was a bochinchero (troublemaker)".
"Little by little I lost my fear and realized that being a priest is a dream that you have to fulfill with the help of others, you can't dream alone. For me, the help of my spiritual director was key. and the companions in the seminary. These ten years as a priest have been the most beautiful of my life," he says.
He is very grateful for the help he has received from benefactors. to study at the University of Navarra. And, asked about his future plans, he assures that they are those that the bishop of his diocese has for him: "In a few years I would like to see myself as I was in 2010 when I was ordained, happy and with the strength to wear myself out for my parish. There is something very important in the priesthood: respect and obedience to the bishop and love for his diocese".
When Wuillis Azuaje (Trujillo-Venezuela,1981) arrived in Pamplona on September 13, 2018, it was the first time he had crossed the Atlantic. He is studying for a degree in Canon Law at the University of Navarra. When he returns to Puerto Cabello, the city where he was parish priest, he will be the first canonist of his diocese. Wuillis Azuaje is the seventh of eight siblings and although he had been educated in Catholicism and even had several relatives who were priests, he assures that he discovered his vocation little by little.
Rolvin Capistrano is from Viga Catanduanes, Philippines. He is 41 years old and is currently in his second year of his second degree in Canon Law. He is not new to Pamplona, as this is the second time he has come to study at the University of Navarra. From 2000 to 2004 he studied a Bachelor's Degree in Theology while he was studying at the Bidasoa International Seminary.
Here he arrived, sent by the bishop of his diocese to study with a scholarship from the CARF Foundation. He did not come alone. He had the good fortune to coincide with a companion from the minor seminary where he had studied and whom he had known since he was a child, when they were both altar boys in the same parish.
He assures that coming back to this land has been like coming back to his second home: "The city has changed a lot, but deep down it is still my old Pamplona".
He says that his vocation was not very well received by his father, although with the help of his mother, he was able to show him which was his path. But his faith came from his grandparents, with whom he and his three siblings spent weekends.
"The Lord captivated me with the attractiveness of the life of a priest. I was twelve years old when I entered the seminary. There I found happinessI was where I was supposed to be and doing what I was supposed to do. I had opportunities to decline, but I didn't".
Currently he also collaborates with the Archbishop of Pamplona celebrating mass in Caparroso, because the parish priest is ill. And on other occasions he has helped in some parishes in Artajona, Ulzama and in the Baztan Valley.
"The Filipinos we have inherited many things from the popular religiosity of the Spaniards.. Navarra is a missionary land. I am learning a lot and now I understand many things as I go into the villages: their customs, the patron saint festivals, the processions...", he explains.
Asked about his pastoral work, he says he is very happy: "For me it is not something strange. We priests are not ordained for ourselves, but to help people and be with them. There are villages that have only 5 or 6 people at mass and we may think that we are not doing anything. However, we must sow with joy, just as we were the fruit of the seed sown by our ancestors. That is how we have been growing".
In addition to his academic training at the University, Rolvin plays sports in his spare time (tennis and jogging), "especially when I feel overwhelmed by my studies," he stresses.
He is very grateful for the help received from benefactors to be able to continue his studies, without which it would not have been possible: "There are many people who help us and although they do not see it, they are doing many good things for the Church. The support we receive from them is part of God's surprises. and the joys we experience are also theirs".
Rolvin Romero is 41 years old and is a priest of the Diocese of Virac in the Philippines. He was trained at the Bidasoa International Ecclesiastical College and was ordained a priest in 2006. He has returned to the University of Navarra by order of his bishop to pursue a licentiate in Canon Law.
