 As a student in Italy, Larrea Holguín met Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, founder of Opus Dei, and after this meeting, in 1949, he requested admission into this institution of the Catholic Church.Owing to this, he became the first member of Opus Dei in Ecuador in 1952.He later received a Doctorate in Canon Law from the Angelicum of Rome, and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1962.