Fr Ledesma was born on 11 July 1970 in Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, a city where his parents, Carlos Alberto Ledesma and María Amada Peralta, still live today. He got to know the Salesians in his hometown and then entered the pre-novitiate.
He did his novitiate in Ramos Mejía, Argentina, and made his first religious profession on 31 January 1998 in Buenos Aires.
He completed his philosophical studies at the Post-Novitiate in Asunción and did his practical training in Minga Guazú, in 2001, and at the 'Don Bosco Roga' in Asunción, in 2002. He completed his theological studies in Chile, at the Catholic University, residing in the Santiago-Lo Cañas Theologate community. He made his perpetual profession on 31 January 2004, in Asunción, and was ordained a deacon in Chile on 13 August 2005. In 2006, he served in the 'Don Bosco Roga' house in Asunción and was ordained a priest in Asunción on 2 December 2006.
Since 2007, while serving at the Provincial House, he has carried out various services of provincial animation, as Delegate for the Salesian Youth Movement and Youth Ministry (2007-2010) and then as the administrator. On 14 August 2012, he took up office as the Provincial Superior of Paraguay for the first time, serving until August 2018.
After his service as the Provincial, he was sent to the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome, where he obtained a Doctorate in Youth Ministry in June 2021. On his return to the Province, he again took on the role of the administrator, also collaborating on the associative and vocational dimension of Youth Ministry.
Fr Ledesma will succeed Fr Mario Villalba, the current Provincial, on 29 July 2024, for a six-year period 2024-2030.
