Luis was born to a noble family in Sevilla, Spain, and studied at the University of Salamanca before entering the convent of "Calvario de los Hermanos Menores".

The embassy was headed by Hasekura Rokuemon Tsunenaga, and crossed the Pacific to Acapulco on board the Japanese-built (with assistance from European sailors) galleon San Juan Bautista.

Pope Paul V had appointed him as such, pending the approval of the King of Spain, but, primarily because of rivalries between Franciscans and Jesuits, he was never consecrated.

Most of the Japanese samurai sent with the mission, who had converted to Christianity, remained at Coria del Río, near Seville, where their descendants live to this day.

When Hasekura finally was able to return, the Spanish authorities impounded Sotelo in Manila, having no desire to stir up conflict with the Portuguese Jesuit mission in Macao by allowing a second, rival Franciscan bishop to be consecrated in Sendai, in addition to the existing Jesuit Bishop of Japan, previously ruling the diocese of Funai (Nagasaki).

When Masamune Date sent a ship to collect him from the Philippines in order to bring him back to Sendai, the Spanish authorities forbade Sotelo to board it and would not allow him to make his own boat and sail there.

In the Roman Catholic Church, his feast day is celebrated on 25 August,[7] as well as 10 September, the anniversary of the massacre of 205 Japanese martyrs.