From EWTN:
Pope Leo XIV appointed Father Emilio Biosca Agüero, OFM Cap, as the third bishop of Venice, Florida, on May 13. The Capuchin Franciscan priest has been pastor of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Washington, D.C., since 2018 and served for more than 20 years as a missionary in Papua New Guinea and Cuba.
The pope also accepted the resignation of Bishop Frank J. Dewane, 76, who has reached the usual age of retirement after leading the diocese since 2007, after having first served for nine months as its coadjutor bishop.
Agüero, who was born in Fairfax, Virginia, on Dec. 15, 1964, entered the Order of the Friars Minor Capuchin in 1987. He was ordained a priest on May 21, 1994.
With his consecration and installation, the bishop-designate will become the second active Capuchin Franciscan bishop currently leading a U.S. diocese, the other being Bishop Marc V. Trudeau, auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles….
…According to a press release from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Agüero speaks Spanish and Tok Pisin (a Creole language spoken throughout Papua New Guinea) in addition to English.
“Bishop-designate Biosca is one of the finest pastors in the Archdiocese of Washington,” Cardinal Robert W. McElroy of Washington said in a statement May 13. “He has the faith and witness which attracts men and women to the person of Jesus Christ. He piercingly preaches the Gospel in its integrity and makes the call to conversion real and engaging.”
Cardinal McElroy said the newly named bishop “has the tender heart of a true Shepherd, and has made the Shrine of the Sacred Heart a true haven of compassion.” He described the bishop-designate as “a skilled administrative leader and a defender of his flock” who has been “unswerving in reaching out to the poor and the marginalized, and the undocumented.”
“He is also a bridgebuilder who reaches across the boundaries of polarization to forge real solidarity in the family of God,” the cardinal said, adding that St. Francis “burns” in Bishop-designate Biosca’s heart. “While I will miss him profoundly in Washington, I know clearly that God is at work in his new mission in Florida, and I give thanks,” he said.
As the pastor of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart, Father Biosca took a leading role in a procession last fall to mark the 111th World Day of Migrants and Refugees, reflecting on how his parish has always kept its doors open to migrant families. “It doesn’t matter where they come from, or what language they speak, we know they are brothers and we welcome them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,” he said.
