Father Andrés Poblete was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1991. He is the second of six siblings, and his older brother, José Pablo, is also a Legionary of Christ priest, ordained in 2022.

Father Andrés studied for fifteen years at Colegio Cumbres in Chile, where he got to know and participate in ECYD and Regnum Christi. In his last year of high school, he went to live with the Legionaries and consecrated members at the Student Center in Santiago to better discern his calling to the priesthood.

The Student Center was a program for young people with vocational questions to experience what it was like to live in a Legionary house, maintaining a normal life at school, with studies and apostolate, but with more prayer. After finishing high school, he directly entered the Legionaries’ novitiate in São Paulo, Brazil, in 2010, beginning his formation for the priesthood.

After his religious profession in March 2012, he was sent to study humanities in Cheshire, United States. From 2014 to 2017, he studied philosophy in Rome at the Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum. For his apostolic practices, he was sent to assist as a formator at the apostolic school in Bad Münstereifel, Germany, from 2017 to 2019.

He then returned to Rome to study theology for three years, from 2019 to 2022. Upon completing his studies, he returned to his home country, where he was ordained a deacon in July 2022 and currently carries out his mission as a youth formator at Colegio Cumbres, the same school where he studied as a child. He is also the director of ECYD in the school’s locality where he supports.

• How did you get to know Regnum Christi?

I got to know it both through Colegio Cumbres, where I studied for 15 years, and through my mother, who is part of one of the first Regnum Christi teams in Chile. Since I can remember, I recall my mother going to her team meetings and talking to me about her activities in the ladies’ section. Later, when I reached 5th grade, I joined ECYD, and I really enjoyed getting to know more about the passionate person of Jesus and developing a living friendship with Him. In second year of high school, I joined Regnum Christi, and I have continued to know and fall more in love with Jesus ever since.

• When did you consider the priestly vocation? How old were you?

The truth is, until I was 15, I never thought about or considered the possibility of a priestly vocation. As a child, I wanted to be a doctor, and later I wanted to study business engineering. It’s true that I participated in all the activities ECYD proposed at school, went to Mass on Sundays, and tried to receive Communion daily at school, but as I said, until I was 15, I never thought about the idea of the priesthood for myself. Everything changed on Monday, May 15, 2006, around 8 p.m. That day, I attended a talk for young people given by the then General Director of the Legionaries and Regnum Christi, Father Álvaro Corcuera, at Colegio Cumbres. I don’t remember what he said, and I had never seen him before, but I was immediately struck by his genuine joy, how attentively he greeted each person with a smile, and how he conveyed peace and fullness. During the talk, I heard for the first and only time a very clear and gentle voice inside me that said: “Andrés, I want you to be my Legionary priest and bring many the joy and fullness of my love, as you see in this priest (Father Álvaro).” I remember my heart wanted to explode with joy, and I even got goosebumps. I looked around, and everything was the same, but I knew that Jesus had spoken to me. From that day, my life changed, and I knew that Jesus wanted me as a priest. I have never had such a clear experience of God speaking to me again; I believe that experience was enough to know what God wanted from me.

• Did the example of your brother, who also followed the path of the priesthood, influence you?

The fact of having a brother in the family who also follows the priestly vocation influenced me by showing that Jesus still calls many young people today to follow Him as priests, and that feeling called by Jesus is not something strange. But each call from God is very personal, and in that sense, my brother’s example influenced me only to a certain extent because, first and foremost, it was God who called me clearly and personally to follow Him more closely as a priest.

• In your family, your older brother is already a priest, and now you are also being ordained. From your own experience, what role do parents play in vocations or in their children’s discernment process?

In my experience, I received faith and learned to know God and pray thanks to my parents’ example. Of course, later at Colegio Cumbres, in ECYD, and in Regnum Christi, I continued growing in faith, but the first seed of faith was planted in my family by my parents. Therefore, the role of parents in any vocation is to transmit faith to their children and help create the conditions for that seed to grow and bear all the fruits that God has planned for the vocation He will reveal. I am grateful for all the support, openness, and love I have felt from my parents on this path. I could summarize the role of parents in vocation as: transmitters of faith and supporters of how that faith grows in each of their children in the vocation that God is revealing to each one.

• Was it very difficult to discern your vocation? How did your friends or peers take it?

Since I felt that God was calling me to be His priest, I kept it to myself for two years for two reasons. First, I was somewhat afraid that if I shared this personal experience I had with Jesus, it might not be understood or accepted by everyone. Second, just five months after feeling that call, my older brother revealed that God was calling him to be a priest, which brought many changes to the family, and I thought it was better not to say anything until my brother entered the seminary a year and a half later.

When I shared it with my family and friends, I felt a lot of peace because I could finally openly say and live what had filled my heart with joy for two years. Many false fears I had about how they would react were dispelled. I remember my family supported me fully, though with some sacrifice, because they knew how hard it was for my brother to leave home and the country after finishing school, and now I would be the second. My friends supported me a lot and were very happy to have a friend who would become a priest in the future. I was truly impressed by the love and support from many people.

• How has it been to form and live this process together with your brother, who is also a priest?

Having a brother in the family who shares your same vocation to the priesthood is a great gift from God. To me, he remains the same brother I’ve always known, and we get along very well. We are only a year and two months apart, so we are very close. We have spent a little over four years living together during this formation time in the seminary. When we are together, we share spiritual experiences, struggles, jokes, go out for ice cream, give each other advice, share notes, do sports together, watch movies, etc. Having my brother Pablo in the Legion and everything we have shared has been one of the best moments of my formation.

• Where are you currently?

I am currently in Santiago, Chile, supporting the formation of adolescents at Colegio Cumbres. I speak directly with students, support Catholic Formation classes, accompany apostolic outings, and as a priest, I will assist with sacraments, etc. I am also the director of ECYD in the area of the city where Colegio Cumbres is located.

• What does being ordained a priest mean to you?

It primarily means a calling from God to grow in intimacy with Him, to pray more, to be holy. As an ordained minister, Christ is present in me in the celebration of the sacraments, so I want this presence to be intimate and to transform me to be more like Christ each day. I want His message, His words, His gestures, His face to be what I transmit. Secondly, it’s a call to serve everyone God places in my life. A service that involves listening, welcoming, helping, understanding, forgiving, praying for others.

• What has Regnum Christi meant to you?

Regnum Christi has been a true second family where I have met and experienced, alongside other young people, a living God who loves me personally and wants to be my friend. This friend has a name: Jesus, and through Regnum Christi, He has captivated my heart, and it comes naturally to want to share Him with others so that many can come to know Jesus and experience the fullness I have found.

• What would you say to a young person considering a consecrated life vocation?

I would tell them that God is the first interested in our happiness and a full life, and He has a plan for each of us to reach that fullness. That plan is to love and be loved. Knowing this, I would advise them to ask God in prayer whether their path is to love through a consecrated vocation or through another way. It’s very helpful to have a spiritual director or to discuss it with someone more experienced to shed more light on the discernment. A good indicator of God’s plan is to see where we are truly happy. God will not call us to something where we will always suffer or be only moderately happy, but that doesn’t mean His plan is free of crosses and sacrifices. When we follow God’s plan, despite difficulties, it gives meaning to our lives and makes us get up each day with a full heart. To love and be loved. I’ve seen this in many marriages, in consecrated persons, priests, and in my personal experience.