Marcelo Farfán was born on 2 December 1963 in Cuenca, Azuay, the son of Miguel and Rebeca. He got to know Don Bosco at the Salesian Oratory of Mary Help of Christians in Cuenca and was invited to the Orientalist school, then a school for aspirants; after finishing high school in 1981, he entered the pre-novitiate.
He did his novitiate in Cumbayá in 1982 and his first Salesian profession on January 31, 1983, followed by perpetual profession on 29 January 1989 in Quito; he was ordained a priest in Cuenca on June 27, 1992.
After ordination, he was assigned to the mission of Zumbahua as house Vicar until 1996, when he was sent to the post-novitiate community in Quito as an economer until 1998. In 1998, after completing the course for formators in Rome, he was appointed Director of the Post-Novitiate, a position he held until 2003. From 1997 to 2008 he served for 11 consecutive years as Provincial Councilor.
From 2003 to 2006 he continued to serve as a formator in the post-novitiate and assumed the responsibility of Vice-Rector of the Salesian Polytechnic University of Quito. From 2006 to 2008 he again served as Director of the post-novitiate.
In 2008 he was chosen for a first term as Superior of the Province of Ecuador for 2008-2014. After this service ended, he once again returned to the post-novitiate as Director, until 2016, when he was called by the Rector Major to join the Congregation's Department of Youth Ministry as Coordinator General of Salesian Institutions of Higher Education (IUS), a position he held until 2021.
Before returning to his home Province, the Rector Major gave him the mandate to make the Extraordinary Visitation to the Province of "Spain-Mary Help of Christians" (SMX) on his behalf, which he carried out in the pastoral year 2021-2022. At the end of the visitation, he returned to the Province and was appointed Director of the International Postnovitiate in Quito. But a few months after he began this responsibility, the Rector Major called him to again assume the role of Provincial of Ecuador.
In addition to the philosophical and theological studies done during his formation, Fr. Farfán also earned a Bachelor of Science in Education and a Doctorate in Theology.
