MIAMI | He speaks English, Spanish, Creole, Italian and Maltese. He laughs easily and loves soccer. He was born in an island and has ministered in another one for the past 15 years.

If any priest is suited to serve in Miami, it seems Msgr. Peter Baldacchino, 53, comes ready-made. And that perhaps is what Pope Francis thought when he appointed the Newark priest to be Miami�s 10th auxiliary bishop.

The appointment was announced at a press conference Feb. 20 at the archdiocesan Pastoral Center. Msgr. Baldacchino�s ordination is set for March 19, the feast of St. Joseph, at St. Mary Cathedral.

�He�s been in the trenches. He�s not a bureaucrat,� Archbishop Thomas Wenski said after making the announcement. �I think it reflects one of the priorities of Pope Francis but also it fits with me.�

Archbishop Wenski was referring to the fact that Bishop-elect Baldacchino has spent the past 15 years serving as chancellor � and one of only three priests � in the Turks and Caicos, a mission territory that falls under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Newark. Archbishop Wenski himself spent his entire priesthood in parish work, including 18 years as administrator of Notre Dame d�Haiti Mission in Miami.

�He is a good fit for Miami because of his life experience,� Archbishop Wenski said.

He added that Miami � with more than one million Catholics � is a macrocosm of the multicultural microcosm the bishop-elect lived in the Turks and Caicos, whose entire population is about 37,000. Less than a third are Catholics.

�I was happy to serve in the Archdiocese of Newark; I was glad to serve in building the Roman Catholic Mission in Turks and Caicos Islands. I look forward to serving the Archdiocese of Miami,� Bishop-elect Baldecchino said at the press conference.

Afterward, while being interviewed by the media, he shared a secret: He was vacuuming the carpet in the Blessed Sacrament chapel of his church � Our Lady of Divine Providence in Providenciales, the capital of Turks and Caicos � when he got the phone call from the papal nuncio telling him of his appointment. Archbishop Wenski�s follow-up call caught him taking out the garbage.

�We do everything. We wash the plates, we wash the laundry,� he explained, holding up his calloused hands.

�He�s a missionary priest,� said Father Emanuele De Nigris, pastor of St. Cecilia Parish in Hialeah who, like Msgr. Baldacchino, studied for the priesthood at the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Newark, N.J.

Redemptoris Mater seminaries are directed by the Neocatechumenal Way, �an itinerary of Catholic formation� for individuals and families that emphasizes �missionary zeal� in spreading the Gospel in today�s world � or as Pope John Paul II called it, the �new evangelization.�

�He built the church (in Turks and Caicos) from scratch,� Father De Nigris said, pointing out that in 15 years the mission territory has grown from no Catholic churches to two churches � another one in Grand Turk � and one school. Weekly Mass attendance has grown from about 40 in the early years to more than 1,000 today.

Father De Nigris, who also serves as rector of the recently created Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Miami, added that Turks and Caicos is a nation of �very wealthy people and extremely poor people.�

Bishop-elect Baldacchino said his appointment to Miami �opens up a lot of possibilities for evangelization.�

Asked if he had any ideas about what he would first do here, he replied humbly: �I am trying not to have first ideas. I�m trying to follow rather than lead at the moment. The will of God is not my will. I need to learn to submit my will to the will of God.�

He called Miami a �new chapter� in his life and said, �I really look forward to the surprises that God has for me � for us.�

The bishop-elect will remain in Miami until Saturday, when he will return to the Turks and Caicos to sign the paperwork necessitated by his departure and pack up his belongings.

�There�s not much,� he said.

He will then return to Miami for good. �This is home now,� he added.

Before his ordination, he will go on a week-long retreat. Then, in Archbishop Wenski�s words, �he�ll hit the ground running, because we have a busy season ahead of us.�