Emilio Biosca Agüero, son of two Cuban exiles from Camagüey, was ordained bishop and took canonical possession of the Diocese of Venice during a solemn ceremony held on Saturday at St. John XXIII Catholic Church in Fort Myers, Florida.
The liturgy, presided over by Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, featured Cardinal Seán Patrick O'Malley and Bishop Emeritus Frank J. Dewane as co-officiants. Hundreds of faithful witnessed a deeply emotional moment.
The moment that moved those present the most was when the parents of the priest, the residents of Camagüey Emilio Biosca and María del Carmen Agüero, bestowed their blessing upon their son, now consecrated.
"The Biosca family continues to write memorable chapters in our ecclesial history," a user wrote on Facebook, highlighting that image as "the peak moment of the day in terms of emotion."
A participant in the ceremony summed up the general sentiment with these words: "I had never attended a Mass for the ordination of a bishop. It was beautiful, and absolutely every detail was perfect."
Biosca Agüero, aged 61, was born on December 15, 1964, in Colorado Springs, Colorado, the third of seven children, with his two older sisters born in Cuba. He joined the Order of the Capuchin Franciscans in 1987 and was ordained a priest in 1994.
His missionary journey first took him to Papua New Guinea for over a decade, where he learned Melanesian Tok Pisin, and then to Cuba, where he served in his ministry for twelve years: one year in Havana, three as a parish priest in Santa Clara, and eight in the parish of La Purísima Concepción in Manzanillo, in the Diocese of Bayamo-Manzanillo.
Since 2019, he was the pastor of the Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart in Washington D.C., a parish of about 5,000 families that holds mass in five languages: English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, Vietnamese, and Portuguese.
Regarding that community, the new bishop had reflected: "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."
Pope Leon XIV —Robert Francis Prevost, the first American pontiff with Cuban roots on his mother's side— announced the appointment on May 13, 2026, simultaneously accepting the resignation of Bishop Frank J. Dewane, 76 years old, who had led the diocese since 2006.
Biosca Agüero becomes the third bishop of the Diocese of Venice since its founding in 1984 by Pope John Paul II, and the second active Capuchin Franciscan bishop in the United States.
The event, however, was overshadowed by the Cuban regime: the day before the ordination, the island's authorities prevented Father Castor José Álvarez Devesa, a parish priest in Camagüey and a critical voice against the government, from traveling when he attempted to leave from Antonio Maceo Airport in Santiago de Cuba to attend the ceremony.
The regime imposed a travel ban on him under the new Migration Law (Law 171), enacted in May 2026, which establishes vague grounds such as "national security" and "public interest."
Álvarez Devesa had already been summoned by State Security in January 2026 alongside the priest Alberto Reyes, both noted for their critical stances.
The Diocese of Venice encompasses 10 counties in southwest Florida, with 61 parishes, 195 priests, and more than 242,000 baptized faithful, including a significant Cuban-American community that celebrated the consecration of one of its own this Saturday.
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