Meeting in front of the altar, as if in sync, Maria del Carmen Ag\u00fcero and Emilio Rodolfo Biosca Sr. laid their hands upon their son\u2019s cheek and forehead. Bishop Biosca put his hands upon each of his parents\u2019 shoulders. Their heads bowed, the emotions of the moment were at the surface. They stayed like that for a minute, as tears filled the eyes of some in the pews, 1,600 strong.<\/p>\n
Moment that encapsulated July 11 Mass<\/p>\n
Love. Gratitude. Commitment. Service. Humility. Longing. Trust. Grace. All in less than 60 seconds. That moment encapsulated the July 11 ordination and installation of Bishop Biosca as the third shepherd of the Diocese of Venice<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cPope Leo is like a Hallmark card,\u201d said Cardinal Sean P. O\u2019Malley<\/a>, retired archbishop of Boston, who was the homilist and served as a co-consecrator of the new bishop, a fellow Capuchin Franciscan. \u201cHe cares to send the very best.\u201d<\/p>\n The ordination marked the passing of leadership from now-retired Bishop Frank J. Dewane, who served the diocese for two decades. Cardinal O\u2019Malley thanked him for his \u201coutstanding leadership and fruitful tenure.\u201d<\/p>\n The afternoon ordination drew faithful from each of the diocese\u2019s 61 parishes and eight missions. Dozens of priests filled the pews, including fellow Capuchin Franciscans from across the United States.<\/p>\n The new bishop\u2019s episcopal brothers of Florida were there for support, along with other U.S. prelates, including Bishop Jacques E. Fabre<\/a> of Charleston, South Carolina, who served as a priest in the Diocese of Venice.<\/p>\n Prelates who knew Venice\u2019s new bishop as a priest<\/p>\n Also there to celebrate were prelates who had known Bishop Biosca during his years as a priest, including Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory, retired archbishop of Washington, and retired Bishop \u00c1lvaro Julio Beyra Luarca of Sant\u00edsimo Salvador de Bayamo y Manzanillo, Cuba. Bishop Biosca served as a priest in the Cuban diocesan and considers the elder bishop a mentor and friend.<\/p>\n Bishop Biosca was born Dec. 15, 1964, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the third of seven children and the first to be born in the United States after his parents emigrated from Cuba. He entered the Capuchin Franciscans in 1984, and made first profession of vows in Pittsburgh in 1988 and solemn vows in 1991.<\/p>\n He was ordained a priest in 1994, at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Washington. That connection to his ordination came full circle.<\/p>\n He had been serving as pastor of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart since March 1, 2019, when on May 13, Pope Leo XIV<\/a>\u00a0 appointed<\/a> him as the third bishop of Venice, succeeding Bishop Dewane, who was retiring at age 76.<\/p>\n And, on July 11, he was ordained a bishop by the same man who ordained him as a priest \u2014 Cardinal O\u2019Malley.<\/p>\n \u2018Must have been something in the water\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI speak as someone who has known Bishop Biosca for 50 years or more. \u2026 I watched Emilio grow up. He came to live with us at the house of discernment, Casa Galilea. Out of that little community came many wonderful priests, and five bishops and two cardinals. There must have been something in the water,\u201d said the cardinal, who in the early 1970s was a priest at Sacred Heart and worked with Latin American migrants in Washington.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was my privilege to ordain him a priest and today be a co-consecrator at his episcopal ordination. I am truly overwhelmed. I feel verklempt,\u201d he added, using the yiddish word made popular by a Michael Myers character on \u201cSaturday Night Live.\u201d<\/p>\n The cardinal became friends with the family after Emilio Sr., a dentist, helped establish a dental clinic for the immigrants in the District of Columbia area. He had followed the younger Capuchin\u2019s vocation, including when he served as a missionary in Papua New Guinea and in Cuba.<\/p>\n As a priest, then-Father Biosca volunteered and was sent to serve in the Capuchin mission in Papua New Guinea from 1994 to 2004, where he served predominantly the Kewa and Wiri speaking peoples in the Kagua, Ialibu and Pangia areas of the Southern Highlands.<\/p>\n From 2002 to 2004 he served as the director of novices for the Capuchin Novitiate in Pangia.<\/p>\n Ministry as a missionary to Cuba<\/p>\n In 2007, Bishop Biosca entered Cuba, in collaboration with the Capuchin Spanish delegation of Madrid. He spent his first year in Havana, then three years as pastor of La Pastora Parish in Santa Clara, and his last eight years there on the eastern side of the country in the Diocese of Bayamo-Manzanillo.<\/p>\n Cardinal O\u2019Malley said the Diocese of Venice is not a missionary diocese, joking the demographics are described as a \u201csilver tsunami,\u201d and it is a profile that does not fit where Capuchin bishops general serve \u2014 mission lands.<\/p>\n But he said the appointment is \u201canother one of God\u2019s surprises\u201d in Bishop Biosca\u2019s life, and along with older, loyal Catholics are the poor and marginalized, many of whom are immigrants who work, as laborers in the fields and in the tourism industry.<\/p>\n Cardinal O\u2019Malley said Bishop Biosca\u2019s \u201cdeep love\u201d for \u201cJesus crucified\u201d and the Franciscan virtues of simplicity, solidarity and joy will prepare him for his service in Venice.<\/p>\n \u2018Today is a second calling\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cEmilio, God\u2019s providence has placed you in a new and a different reality. \u2026 You responded generously years ago by embracing a call to the priesthood. Today is a second calling,\u201d Cardinal O\u2019Malley said in his homily. \u201cRemember always, that your ministry is above all a call to follow Christ, sharing in the hardships of the Gospel. \u2026 Jesus is teaching us that all ministry is about love, about laying down your life for the flock and that ministry is borne out of a deep friendship with the risen Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n While the new bishop might feel now or at times \u201cunworthy\u201d of his position, Cardinal O\u2019Malley stressed that is a good thing. He reminded him he will be a \u201cfisher of new disciples\u201d and that he should rely on the gift of God, which is not a spirit of \u201ccowardice, but of power, of love and of self-control.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWithout bishops there would be no priests. No magisterium. No power to forgive sins. No possibility of Eucharist. That is why the church sees the ordination as a bishop as the key to our identity and our survival,\u201d the cardinal said. \u201cBrother Emilio will receive the same ordination and the same share in the apostle\u2019s role. Jesus is calling (you) to follow him and to be a shepherd after his own heart.\u201d<\/p>\n At close of Mass, remarks of gratitude<\/p>\n In his remarks before the close of Mass, Bishop Biosca offered gratitude to those who had previously served in the District of Columbia, Cuba and Papua New Guinea and to all his fraternal brothers for their kindness, support, leadership, wisdom and faith.<\/p>\n He especially thanked Bishop Dewane for \u201creceiving this beautiful diocese that is vibrant in faith and is filled with the gifts of its people,\u201d and also gave special thanks to the Cuban and Cuban-born bishops there \u2014 Bishop Beyra, retired Bishop Felipe J. Est\u00e9vez of St. Augustine, retired Bishop Jos\u00e9 Felix Perez of Havana and retired Auxiliary Bishop Octavio Cisneros of Brooklyn, New York \u2014 describing them as \u201cintrepid disciples of our Venerable F\u00e9lix Varela, living a faith as faithful sons of Our Lady of Charity.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260715T1222-VENICE-BISHOP-INSTALLATION-1823428-682x1024.jpg\")
Cardinal Se\u00e1n P. O\u2019Malley, retired archbishop of Boston, lays his hands on Bishop Emilio Biosca Ag\u00fcero during his ordination Mass as third bishop of Venice, Fla., at St. John XXIII Church in Fort Myers July 11, 2026. (OSV News photo\/Jean Gonzalez, Florida Catholic Media)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260715T1220-VENICE-BISHOP-INSTALLATION-1823423-1024x736.jpg\")
As part of the ordination rite, the Book of Gospels is posed over Bishop Emilio Biosca Ag\u00fcero\u2019s head as the co-consecrators \u2014 Miami Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski, center, and Cardinal Se\u00e1n P. O\u2019Malley, retired archbishop of Boston, right \u2014 pray over Bishop Biosca during his ordination Mass as third bishop of Venice, Fla., at St. John XXIII Church in Fort Myers July 11, 2026. Bishop Biosca, a Capuchin Franciscan missionary, was a missionary who served in Cuba and Papua New Guinea and a Washington pastor. (OSV News photo\/Jean Gonzalez, Florida Catholic Media)<\/p>\n