Fr. Abel Rangel Cruz was born in Bogotá on August 3, 1980. He studied Business Administration for several semesters at the University of the Andes in Bogotá, and on December 7, 2001, he entered the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ.

He completed his candidacy and novitiate in Medellín, studied classical humanities for a year in Salamanca, Spain, and studied philosophy and theology at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome, where he also obtained a licentiate and master’s degree in philosophy.

He was ordained a priest on December 12, 2015, in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome by Cardinal Beniamino Stella, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy.

During his apostolic internships, he worked in vocational ministry in the state of Coahuila, Mexico, and as a formation instructor at the Cumbres de Saltillo and Cumbres San Javier schools in Guadalajara.

During the first years of his ministry, he was director of ECYD in the cities of Saltillo and Monclova, in charge of the collaborators in that area and administrator of the Regnum Christi Center.

He is currently Territorial Administrator and Advisor to the Territorial Directorate Headquarters.