Vatican official named coadjutor bishop in Venice, Fla.

Published: 2006-04-25

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has named Msgr. Frank J. Dewane, undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace at the Vatican, as coadjutor bishop of Venice, Fla. As coadjutor, Bishop-designate Dewane will become head of the diocese upon the retirement or death of the current bishop, Bishop John J. Nevins of Venice. The appointment was announced in Washington April 25 by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States. In Florida, Archbishop John C. Favalora of Miami said in a statement he welcomed the appointment and was grateful the pope named a coadjutor for Bishop Nevins, 74, who had requested "additional assistance as his responsibilities continue to grow in the southwest part of the state." The 9,000-square-mile diocese has a Catholic population of about 218,000.

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