Bishop of Nacala
Alberto Vera Aréjula, O.de M., was born on April 8, 1957, in Aguilar del Río Alhama, in the Diocese of Calahorra y La Calzada-Logroño (Spain). After completing his primary and secondary education, he entered the Mercedarian Seminary in Reus (Tarragona) in 1967. He subsequently continued his religious formation, making his First Profession in 1975 at the Monastery of San Ramón Nonato (Lérida) and his Solemn Profession on March 19, 1981, at the Monastery of El Puig (Valencia). He obtained a Baccalaureate in Theology and attended the first year of the Licentiate program in Systematic Theology in 1982 at the Faculty of Theology of Catalonia (Barcelona). After completing his second year of Psychology at the University of Valencia in 1985, he finished a course for secondary school philosophy teachers at Francisco Marroquín University in Guatemala in 1987. He was ordained a priest on August 22, 1981. Following his ordination, he held the following positions: 1982–1985: Vicar of the Parish of Nuestra Señora de El Puig (Valencia); 1986–1994: Formator of postulants and vocation promoter for the Central American Vicariate in Guatemala City; 1994–1997: Vicar of the Parish of San José Obrero in Castellón; 1994–1997: elected Provincial Councilor and Head of Youth and Vocation Ministry for the Province of Aragón; 1997–2000: Formator in the Reus community; 2000–2013: Superior of the community in Matola (Mozambique), Rector of Studies at the Mercedarian Seminary, Parish Priest of Nossa Senhora do Livramento, Director of the parish primary and secondary school, and Diocesan Councilor for Caritas Maputo; since 2000: Delegate of the Provincial of the Mercedarian Fathers in Mozambique; Since 2013: Superior of the new community in Xai-Xai (Mozambique), at the new Nossa Senhora das Mercês Parish.