The coat of arms of Peter Baldacchino as Auxiliary Bishop of Miami.

Born Dec. 5, 1960, in Sliema, Malta, Bishop Baldacchino is the second oldest of four children - three boys and a girl - born to Leonilda (known as Hilda) and Rinaldo (known as Rene) Baldacchino. When he was 13, his family joined the Neocatechumenal Way. He studied at St. Francis School in Msida and Mount Carmel College in Santa Venera, Malta, then studied science and chemistry at the University of Malta.

He entered the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary in Newark, N.J., in 1990, obtaining a bachelor's in theology and a master's in divinity from Seton Hall University. On May 25, 1996, he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Newark and assigned as parochial vicar to Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Ridgewood, N.J. In 1999, he was named chancellor of Our Lady of Divine Providence Mission in Turks and Caicos Islands, a missio sui iuris (independent mission) for which the Archbishop of Newark is responsible. He became pastor of Our Lady of Divine Providence Church in Providenciales in 2002, and in 2009 was named a Chaplain to His Holiness, with the honorary title of monsignor. Pope Francis appointed him auxiliary bishop of Miami Feb. 20, 2014. He was ordained to the episcopacy March 19, 2014.

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