Bishop of Coronel Oviedo
Gavilán Velázquez was born in Eusebio Ayala, in the Diocese of Caacupé, on June 24, 1951. He received his priestly formation at the National Major Seminary in Asunción and his academic training at the Higher Institute of Theology of the Catholic University *Nuestra Señora de la Asunción* in the capital. He was ordained a priest on December 18, 1977. In 1987, he obtained a Licentiate in Pastoral Theology from the Pontifical Lateran University. As a priest, he served as parish priest of the tourist town of San Bernardino, Director of the Diocesan Commission for Catechesis, Rector and Bursar of the San José Minor Seminary in Caacupé, Secretary of the Episcopal Commission for Catechesis, lecturer at the Catholic University's Higher Institute of Theology, and Vicar for Pastoral Care for the Diocese of Caacupé. Appointed Bishop of Concepción on March 5, 1994, he received episcopal ordination on May 22 of that same year.