By Kathleen Bagg
VENICE, Fla. — Pope Leo XIV has accepted the resignation of Bishop Frank J. Dewane, 76, from the pastoral governance of the Diocese of Venice and appointed Capuchin Father Emilio Biosca Agüero as his successor.
The appointment was announced May 13 in Washington by Msgr. Većeslav Tumir, chargé d’affaires of the Apostolic Nunciature in the United States.
Father Biosca, a member of the Capuchin Franciscan Friars of the Province of St. Augustine in Pittsburgh, currently serves as pastor of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Washington.
Born Dec. 15, 1964, Father Biosca earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Borromeo College in Wickliffe, Ohio, in 1987. He later earned a master’s degree in theology and a master of divinity degree from Oblate College in Washington in 1992. From 2004 to 2007, he pursued studies at the John Paul II Institute in Washington, earning a licentiate in sacred theology.
He entered the Capuchin Franciscans in 1987, made perpetual profession in 1991 and was ordained to the priesthood May 21, 1994.
Following ordination, Father Biosca served as a missionary in Papua New Guinea from 1994 to 2006. His assignments included St. Mary, Queen of the Friars Minor Parish in Kagua and the Pangia Capuchin Fraternity.
From 2007 to 2019, he served in Cuba at several parishes, including Cristo de Limpias and Jesús de Miramar in Havana, La Divina Pastora in Santa Clara and La Purísima Concepción in Manzanillo.
Since 2019, he has served as pastor of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Washington.
Bishop-elect Biosca speaks Spanish and Tok Pisin, a creole language widely spoken in Papua New Guinea.
The Diocese of Venice covers 9,035 square miles in southwest Florida.
