 Born in Buenos Aires in 1942, he was ordained a priest on 7 December 1968 in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Buenos Aires.At the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas, "Angelicum" of Rome he was awarded a Ph.D. in sacred theology, the highest level of Church postgraduate studies, with the maximum possible grade of summa cum laude (1978) with the dissertation "La gracia como participación de la naturaleza divina según Santo Tomás de Aquino".In 1976 he graduated summa cum laude in Philosophy at Perugia University.