by OSV News
Bishop-designate Gregg Caggianelli (OSV News /U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services)
Pope Francis has appointed Father Gregg M. Caggianelli, a nearly 30-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, as auxiliary bishop of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services.
Caggianelli, a priest of the Diocese of Venice, Florida, is currently at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he serves as the mobilization assistant to the U.S. Air Force Academy chaplain. He holds the military rank of colonel.
Caggianelli is also a vice rector of St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida.
"At age eleven, I started thinking of being a priest and at age fourteen I had a great desire to serve in the military," Caggianelli said in a statement emailed to National Catholic Reporter. "Since 1986, I have had the honor of wearing the uniform in one capacity or the other."
The appointment was announced in Washington Feb. 21 by Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
The Archdiocese for the Military Services, which has its headquarters in Washington, serves U.S. Catholics in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and at the Department of Veterans Affairs and those in government service outside the United States. Worldwide, an estimated 1.8 million Catholics depend on the military archdiocese to meet their spiritual and sacramental needs.
Caggianelli’s pontifical appointment brings to five the total number of auxiliary bishops serving under Broglio.
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