After 16 years in office, Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Giuseppe Betori as Archbishop of Florence. His successor will not be a former auxiliary bishop or vicar general, but a parish priest.

Newsroom (24/04/2024 20:00, Gaudium Press) The Church of Florence will have a new archbishop with more than a decade’s missionary experience in Africa. Archbishop Gherardo Gambelli, who until then was parish priest at the Madonna della Tosse in Florence, replaces 77-year-old Cardinal Giuseppe Betori, who submitted his resignation to the Pope last year on the grounds that he had reached the age of retirement. The Cardinal’s departure was announced live on television in Tuscany, revealing that the future prelate will be ordained Archbishop on June 24.

Eleven Years in Chad

Born in Viareggio, Bishop Gambelli was ordained a priest in 1996 in Florence. As well as holding various positions in the Archdiocese, he obtained a licentiate in Biblical Theology from the Gregorian University and a doctorate from the Theological Faculty of Central Italy. In 2011, he asked to be sent to Chad as a fidei donum priest, ministering as parish priest of St. Josephine Bakhita in the Archdiocese of N’Djaména and responsible for vocations ministry until 2022, accumulating experience as a chaplain in the prisons of N’Djaména and the Apostolic Vicariate of Mongo.

“A Man from the Peripheries”

Cardinal Betori described the new archbishop as “a man of the human, geographical and existential peripheries”. The new archbishop thanked the Pope and affirmed his desire to serve the Church in Florence and “respond to the great gift of the Gospel”. He added that the years spent in Africa “confirmed” that the best way to take advantage of the gifts received is to “share them”.

With information from Vatican news

Compiled by Florence MacDonald