Most Rev. Peter Baldacchino was born in Sliema, Malta on December 5, 1960. The Republic of Malta is a Southern European island country consisting of an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea located to the south of Italy. The Archdiocese of Malta is an apostolic see, meaning that it was established by one of the apostles. St. Paul the Apostle was shipwrecked in the Island of Malta, where he performed miracles and cured the inhabitants before continuing to Rome (Acts 28:1-10).

Bishop Peter Baldacchino attended local Catholic schools for his elementary and secondary education. He studied chemistry at the University of Malta where he earned a diploma in sciences, and worked as Technical Manager for several years at the Canada Dry bottling plant on Malta. He later received a Master of Divinity at Seton Hall University in New Jersey.

He had not considered the priesthood as a possible vocation until after he attended the 1989 World Youth day in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Pope John Paul II said to the young people, “Do not be afraid to be holy,” encouraging them to glorify God through their lives and pursue sainthood—to be worthy sons and daughters of God.

At the time, Bishop Baldacchino, struck by the call to holiness made by St. John Paul II, says he really did not understand what it meant to be holy. He was attracted by the missionary outreach of the Church and eventually entered the Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary in Newark, NJ, where he was ordained a priest for that Archdiocese on May 25, 1996.

Bishop Baldacchino served as a priest for the Archdiocese of Newark for 18 years, of which 15 years were spent in the Turks and Caicos Islands, a mission of the Archdiocese of Newark where he was assigned in 1999. There he served as chancellor and pastor of Our Lady of Divine Providence Church until 2014. Recognized by Pope Benedict XVI for his missionary work in building the only Catholic parish community and its church and school on the island of Providenciales, Bishop Baldacchino was named Chaplain to His Holiness, with the title of Reverend Monsignor in 2009.

On February 20, 2014, Pope Francis named the then Msgr. Peter Baldacchino as auxiliary bishop of Miami. He was ordained as bishop on the Solemnity of St Joseph, March 19, 2014, by Archbishop Thomas Wenski, the Archbishop of Miami. Bishop Baldacchino has served as an auxiliary bishop of Miami and pastor of St. Kieran Church in Coconut Grove since 2014. On May 15, 2019, Pope Francis named Bishop Peter Baldacchino as the third bishop of the Diocese of Las Cruces.