ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — The 10th bishop of the Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine will officially submit a letter of resignation to Pope Francis on Feb. 5, according to diocesan officials.
Bishop Felipe Estevez will leave the office he has served since mid-2011 because the mandatory retirement age for bishops is 75.
As was done when Bishop Victor Galeone retired in 2011 after replacing John Snyder in 2001, the pope will make the ultimate decision as to who replaces Estevez.
Estevez was on a retreat and did not wish to comment until the pope appoints his successor.
"He said that is when his retirement will begin," diocesan spokeswoman Kathleen Bagg said.
Estevez was born in Havana, coming to the United States as a teenager during Operation Pedro Pan. That was a secret program done by the Catholic Welfare Bureau to get thousands of Cuban children out of the Communist country from 1960 to 1962.
Ordained a priest in 1970, Estevez studied spiritual theology and earned a doctorate from Gregorian University in Rome. He served as spiritual director of St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach from 2001 to 2003, where he was rector from 1980 to 1986. He was pastor of Miami's St. Agatha Parish for 14 years, while also directing campus ministry at Florida International University.
Appointed auxiliary bishop in 2003, he oversaw the archdiocese’s Ministry of Pastoral Services until his 2010 appointment as vicar general of the Archdiocese of Miami. On April 27, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI named him the diocese's 10th bishop, officially installed on June 2, 2011, at Mandarin's St. Joseph Catholic Church.
The process of selecting the next bishop for the 171,000 Catholics and 60 parishes and missions in the diocese's 17 Florida counties starts among its officials, then moves to higher authorities. Every bishop may submit names of local priests who could be considered for the position. A recommendation is then sent to the apostolic nuncio in Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
A list of recommended candidates is sent to the Congregation for Bishops in Rome, then presented to the pope. His decision is passed back to the Congregation for Bishops, and the chosen candidate is asked if he will accept. If he does, the choice is announced in a process that could take six to eight months.
Estevez will continue serving as the bishop of the diocese until the pope accepts his letter of resignation, but the position may stay vacant for months until a new bishop is appointed, officials said.
