Don Gherardo Gambelli will be ordained bishop for the feast of Saint John the Baptist, 24 June, the feast most loved by Florentines. A double celebration, with Santa Maria del Fiore which will be packed with faithful and religious – tomorrow morning all the bishops of Tuscany are expected in the Cathedral, alongside the cardinals Gualtiero Bassetti and Ernest Simoni and a large delegation from Chad, led by the bishop of Mongo (the city of which Gambelli was parish priest of the cathedral), Philippe Abbo Chen. And on the eve of the ordination, announced by Pope Bergoglio over two months ago, Gambelli told Tuscany Today emotion, gratitude and still amazement” for the call of Pope Francis who chose him as archbishop.
In the short interview, speaking of the delegation from Chad, the country where he was a missionary for 12 years, he joked «I like the phrase of a bishop from that country “we trained him well” and thanks to them I grew in faith and I bring the gift of this faith” and Gambelli underlined that «feeling accompanied by the prayers of many, which gives me great comfort and hope.” And he reiterated what his program will be: «It is a sign of Providence that the feast of St. John the Baptist coincides with my ordination and my entry into the Diocese. The feast of San Giovanni reminds us that this saint is a gift for the whole city and the church of Florence. And welcoming the Grace of the Lord, we want to walk together as members of the Church and with all the realities of the city of Florence, to build together a more just and fraternal society”.
Gambelli – Catholic Action, which he met in Castelfiorentino, where he grew up, was decisive for his vocation – he was ordained a priest in 1996 by Cardinal Silvano Piovanelli and after ordination he was parish vicar at Santo Stefano in Pane, in the Rifredi district, until 2007.
From 2007 to 2011 he was parish priest of the Immaculate and San Martino in Montughi and then he went on a mission to Chadfrom where he returned in 2023, when Betori appointed him parish priest of the Madonna della Tosse in Florence, chaplain of the Sollicciano prison and deputy spiritual director of the Florence Seminary.
For everyone Don Gherardo will be the “missionary bishop” and before the solemn ordination mass in the Cathedral he will be at the Loggia del Bigallo to greet the mayor and the city, before going to the Baptistery for prayer and for the traditional ceremony of the delivery of candles by the Municipality and the Society of San Giovanni Baptist.
Don Gambelli will ask his church for “more courage. We must dare more as Pope Francis tells us many times. In many situations we continue to do everything as before” and in his coat of arms he wanted the broken bread and the grate, symbol of the prison and of Santa Verdiana, the saint of Castelfiorentino. Surmounted, together with the third sign, Marian, by the red lily of Florence.
