Pope Leo XIV names former missionary in Cuba as new bishop of Venice, Florida

ROME (OSV News) — Pope Leo XIV has appointed Father Emilio Biosca Agüero, a Capuchin Franciscan missionary who served in Cuba and Papua New Guinea, as the new bishop of Venice, Florida.

The Vatican announced the appointment on May 13 alongside the acceptance of the resignation of Bishop Frank J. Dewane, 76, who had led the southwest Florida diocese since 2006. Under canon law, diocesan bishops are required to submit their resignation to the pope upon turning 75.

Father Biosca, 61, is a member of the Pittsburgh-based Capuchin Franciscan Friars of the Province of Saint Augustine and has served since 2019 as pastor of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Washington.

The bishop designate has extensive missionary experience, serving 12 years as a missionary in Papua New Guinea before a series of assignments in Cuba from 2007 to 2019 that took him from the Capuchin Fraternity of Cristo de Limpias in Havana, to a parish in Santa Clara, and finally to Iglesia La Purísima Concepción in Manzanillo, where he served for eight years.

The appointment will make him the second Capuchin Franciscan bishop actively serving in the U.S., along with Bishop Matthew G. Elshoff, auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles. Cardinal Seán Patrick O’Malley, the archbishop emeritus of Boston, who retired in 2024, and Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia, are also both members of the order.

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.

Born in Fairfax, Virginia, on Dec. 15, 1964, Bishop-designate Biosca entered the Capuchin Franciscans in 1987, the same year that he graduated from Borromeo College in Wickliffe, Ohio, with a degree in philosophy. He made his perpetual profession on Aug. 17, 1991, and was ordained to the priesthood on May 21, 1994.

His theological formation includes a master’s degree in theology and a master of divinity, both from Oblate College in Washington, as well as a licentiate in sacred theology from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family in Washington.

From the moment of his ordination, he served as a missionary, spending more than a decade in Papua New Guinea from 1994 to 2006. Bishop-designate Biosca speaks Spanish and Tok Pisin, a Creole language spoken throughout Papua New Guinea.

The Diocese of Venice was established by John Paul II in 1984 and encompasses 9,035 square miles in southwest Florida, an area with a significant Cuban American population.

“Jesus reminds us that faith is not simply about knowing ideas about God, but about living in relationship with Him through love,” Bishop-designate Biosca wrote in his most recent parish bulletin. “The more we love as Christ loved, the more clearly, we come to recognize His presence in our lives.”

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