The new archbishop of Florence is a Florentine priest. Pope Francis has appointed as successor to Cardinal Giuseppe Betori Don Gherardo Gambelli, the priest of the suburbs: from Africa to prison. Born in Viareggio, he will turn 55 on June 23, he is the parish priest of the Madonna della Tosse, chaplain of the Sollicciano penitentiary and vice-spiritual director of the Seminary since 2023 when he returned to the Tuscan capital after eleven years spent in Chad as a missionary. The announcement was made yesterday at midday in the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, simultaneously with the Vatican Press Office. To frame the communication, in the north transept, the tribune of the Holy Cross where the relic of the sacred wood is kept and where the polyptych of Santa Reparata painted by Giotto is located. Also in the front row was Cardinal Ernest Simoni who retreated from Albania along the Arno. «The Pope’s choice – explains Betori in his greeting – fell on a priest who we know well and who knows our diocese well, of whom he will become a father as a son on the day of his episcopal ordination». Date of ordination and start of ministry already set: June 24, solemnity of Saint John the Baptist, patron saint of the city of Florence. Betori, who turned 77 last February, leaves having reached the age limit but remains apostolic administrator until the entry of the new archbishop. The cardinal of Umbrian origin has led the Florentine Church for fifteen years, since 2008 when he arrived in Tuscany after having been general secretary of the CEI. He will remain to live in Florence, he says during his speech. And he will say goodbye to the diocese on June 16th. In the communication of the appointment, the apostolic nuncio to Italy, Cardinal Emil Paul Tscherrig, expressed his “gratitude for what he has done in recent years in Florence, for the constant commitment and dedication made in the image of Christ, the Good Shepherd, with particular attention to the most fragile and needy people.” (DD)
“We need to start again from the suburbs.” And Don Gherardo Gambelli experienced them firsthand: in Africa, as a missionary for eleven years; behind the bars of the prison where he has been and continues to be a spiritual guide among “those who have made mistakes but must have the possibility of redemption”, he is keen to make it known. A frontier priest and on the frontiers of the world and the human. A priest with a humble face and a gentle smile that Pope Francis has chosen as the new archbishop of Florence. A Florentine parish priest for the Florentine Church, as had not happened since the episcopate of Silvano Piovanelli, the cardinal who had led the archdiocese of the Tuscan capital from 1983 to 2001. The very pastor who ordained Gambelli as a priest in 1996. He was 27 years old. Today he is 54. And he will turn 55 on June 23, the day before his episcopal ordination and the start of his ministry set for the solemnity of Saint John the Baptist, patron saint of the city of Florence. «I feel I can say that the appointment of a priest from Florence is a sign of esteem and trust on the part of Pope Francis towards our diocese. An ecclesial community that I know and where I hope to share the richness of the missionary experience”, the archbishop-elect tells Avvenire. With a horizon that he already indicates and which seems to be the pivot of his future agenda: «We need to respond to what the Pope asks of us: the missionary conversion of the Church. Therefore, a push towards marginalization is necessary which will help us rediscover the beauty of the Gospel.”
And in one of the suburbs of the archdiocese of Florence Gambelli developed his call to the priesthood: Castelfiorentino. In a family where service to the most vulnerable marks daily life. With his father (or rather his “dad”) who was also national president of the Confederation of Italian Mercy. Proximity as a key to understanding a vocation born from the commitment to Catholic Action and then from the priestly life of Don Gambelli which led him to be parish vicar and then parish priest. Until 2011 when he asked Cardinal Giuseppe Betori, his archbishop, to be sent as a “fidei donum” to Chad. First in the archdiocese of the capital, N’Djamena, where he is parish priest, teacher in the national seminary, prison chaplain; then to Mongo where in 2018 the apostolic vicariate was erected by the Holy See and where Don Gherardo is called to accompany the new local Church which will also see him as vicar delegate. A year ago he returned to Florence where he is parish priest of the Madonna della Tosse, chaplain of the Sollicciano prison and vice-spiritual director of the Seminary. Because, as Betori underlines in his greeting, “the deepest root of his priestly figure lies in the Word of God listened to and studied with love”. He is a missionary priest, but also an expert in Sacred Scripture studied in Jerusalem up to his doctorate in biblical theology.
What do you take away from your years in Africa?
Young Churches teach us the ability to live faithfulness to the Gospel even with limited numbers. I think, for example, of that of the priests who we also experience first-hand here. We need an increasingly widespread involvement of lay people who must have roles of responsibility. The experience in Chad tells me that communities are capable of taking on the challenges that arise. In fact, it is a question of returning to the Church of the origins: the one made up of small realities that were attentive to the context and worked “elbow to elbow”.
The Church in the southern hemisphere is growing. The one in Europe in trouble…
Let’s look at France. On Easter night, twelve thousand adults were baptized. It is a fact that may surprise us but also shows how pastoral care must be reset. We can attract the women and men of our time if we know how to announce the Gospel with courage and with works rather than with speeches.
Florence, a laboratory of peace also in the footsteps of Giorgio La Pira.
Faced with the threat of the expansion of wars, we feel more than ever called upon to work tenaciously for the peace that is built in an artisanal way by paying attention to the daily gestures of forgiveness and reconciliation. La Pira was an example. Also because he was a man of prayer, who put the Word of God at the center. We remember his reference to Isaiah’s prophecy, to the urgency of transforming swords into plows and spears into sickles. Precisely listening to the Word exhorts us not to resign ourselves in the face of violence and injustices.
In his message to the diocese he recalled the commitment to ecumenical and interreligious dialogue.
Faiths are never instruments of antagonism or conflict: they are at the service of good and humanity. For my part, there will always be the desire to walk together. And prayer unites us, starting with that for peace.
Is Florence also a crossroads of the meeting between the Church and the political world?
There is a tradition that I would like to continue to build a more just and supportive society, respecting the dignity of every person, especially the poorest and most excluded. This is a collaboration that must be expressed in concern for those liminal places that should not be forgotten.
Including prison.
Scripture states: “Remember the prisoners, as if you were their fellow prisoners.” As bishop I intend to be close to the needs of our imprisoned sisters and brothers, as well as those of many rejected by our society. I consider prison pastoral care one of the priorities. If, on the one hand, inmates are called to serve their sentences, on the other, society is required to ensure their re-education courses. Everyone must be guaranteed the possibility of a new life.
How did you receive the Pope’s decision?
With a “tsunami” of feelings, emotions, thoughts. Providence wanted the announcement to fall in the week preceding Good Shepherd Sunday. He is the model of the evangelizing choice that pushes us to go towards the geographical and existential peripheries in our missionary commitment.
Tags: Archbishop Gambelli speaks Florence starts suburbs
