Father Azpiroz, 44, was ordained by Cardinal Eduardo Pironio in 1987. He studied at the Marist Brothers´ Champagnat School, and later obtained a degree in law from the Catholic University of Argentina. He also studied at the Institutional Studies Center in St. Dominic´s Monastery in Buenos Aires.
He received a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. Upon his return to the Argentine, he was elected prior of St. Martin de Porres Monastery in Mar del Plata. Until May 1997, he was prior of St. Dominic´s Monastery in Buenos Aires. That year, he was appointed procurator general of the order.
Father Aspiroz was an adviser of the Movement of Days of Christian Life of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, and founded the Puerto Viejo Mission in Goya. In addition, he was a professor at his order´s Institutional Studies Center, at the Argentine Catholic University, and at the St. Thomas Aquinas National University.
He was also province adviser and member of the governing body of the St. Thomas Aquinas University of the North.
He was elected master general last Saturday. He is the first non-European to head the almost 800-year-old order.
