"Throughout human history, I realized that the Church was the only thing that remained," says Masahiro Yuki. Masahiro is Japanese, from Oita, a city in southwestern Japan, where only 0.3% of the population is Catholic. He comes from an atheist family that sometimes practiced Buddhism and Shintoism. In the last grade of high school, at the age of 17, he received a subject history. He liked the history of the world and of the Church and, out of curiosity, one day he entered a Catholic church in Oita, his hometown. There he met the priest who was celebrating Mass at the time, and who had spent 15 years forming seminarians at seminar International Bidasoa, in Pamplona. "After several conversations with him about religion, he invited me to participate in catechesis," explains Masahiro. It was then that he began to be struck by the charity of Christians, the example of Mother Teresa, and the Education in virtues that in Buddhism is not as important as in Christianity. "It helped me understand that the Church is not only human but divine: Christ founded the Church," he adds.

At the age of 18, Masahiro received Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation. "And four years later I saw my vocation to the priesthood during a retreat," he says. For his training he was recommended to be formed in Pamplona, where he has been studying for six years now Philosophy and theology at the School of Theology of the University of Navarra. "Throughout these years I have studied a lot with the illusion of forming myself well to give life to my diocese and to the bishop," adds Masahiro. In Bidasoa, where he lives with 99 other seminarians, he is being formed with the hope of "helping to save many Japanese souls".

Catholicism in Japan

The majority religion in Japan is Buddhism, and Christians account for only 4% of the total population. Among them, 0.3% are Catholics. His family received the news of his conversion and his subsequent entrance to seminar with surprise, but "little by little they are getting closer to the Church". The Catholics of Japan have great devotion to St. Francis Xavier, a missionary who brought the faith to Japan on August 15, 1549, and to whose land Masahiro has returned, to Navarra. "I am very grateful to all those who, by contributing to the CARF Foundation, allow seminarians from all over the world to be formed in the best possible way," he adds.