Cardinal Mauro Gambetti is a Conventual Franciscan and former Custos General of the General Custody of the Sacred Convent of Saint Francis in Assisi who since 2021 has served as Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Born on October 27, 1965, in Castel San Pietro Terme, Bologna, Italy, Gambetti began his journey by obtaining a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Bologna before entering the Order of Friars Minor Conventual. Gambetti professed temporary vows in 1995 and perpetual vows in 1998.

After completing his bachelor’s degree in theology from the Theological Institute of Assisi, Gambetti earned a licentiate in theological anthropology from the Theological Faculty of Central Italy in Florence. He was ordained as a priest on January 8, 2000, in Longiano, Forlì-Cesena.

Gambetti’s career has been marked by several significant appointments. From 2005 to 2009, he served as the Guardian of the Franciscan community at the Convent of the Santissimo Crocifisso. In 2009, he was elected Provincial Minister of the Bologna province of Saint Anthony of Padua, overseeing the convents of the Friars Minor Conventual in Emilia-Romagna.

A major milestone in Gambetti’s career came in 2013 when he was appointed Custos General of the General Custody of the Sacred Convent of Saint Francis in Assisi, a position he held until 2020. During this time, he also served as the Episcopal Vicar for the pastoral care of the Papal Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi.

On November 28, 2020, Pope Francis elevated Gambetti to cardinal and the following February appointed him Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, Vicar General of His Holiness for Vatican City State, and President of the Fabric of Saint Peter’s.

In a more recent development, on June 2, 2023, Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Gambetti as a judge of the Vatican City State Supreme Court, effective from January 1, 2024.

Cardinal Gambetti, whom Pope Francis got to know during papal visits to Assisi, is the first Conventual Franciscan to be made a cardinal since 1861. At the time of his appointment, Gambetti was one of the youngest men to be elevated to the College of Cardinals, having just turned 55.

During his tenure as Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, Gambetti has witnessed and been involved in several controversies. In 2021, soon after taking over as archpriest from Cardinal Angelo Comastri, he played a key role in clarifying and modifying a highly controversial ban on private Masses in St. Peter’s Basilica that had been ordered by the Secretariat of State.  Gambetti emphasized that the exceptions he had allowed to the ban should not become the norm, “distorting the intentions and the sense of the Magisterium.”

On celebration of the Vetus Ordo (Old Latin Mass) in the basilica which had been severely limited under the ban, Gambetti said that “everything possible must be done to fulfill the wishes of the faithful and priests as foreseen by the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum.”  

However, since 2023 and in light of Traditionis Custodes, he has not allowed participants of a traditional annual pilgrimage to celebrate their old rite Mass in the basilica, limiting them only to a short liturgy.

In August 2021, Cardinal Gambetti drew criticism when he had the Altar of St. Joseph in the basilica turned versus populum, removing the altar rail and obstructing the relics of Sts. Simon and Jude who are reputed to be buried there.

The cardinal has also faced further criticism for his management of the basilica, including that the new statutes and regulations Gambetti had introduced had led to the unexpected and unfair dismissals of some senior canons of the basilica.

As cardinal archpriest, in early 2023 Gambetti arranged for Benedict XVI to lie in state in the basilica and also arranged Cardinal George Pell’s funeral at the Altar of the Chair.  He has also supervised the successful and well-received renovation of some areas of the basilica including Bernini’s baldacchino covering the basilica’s main altar.

Cardinal Gambetti is a member of several important Vatican bodies, including the Dicasteries for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and for Communication. He also serves on the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State.

In 2021, Pope Francis appointed Gambetti president of the Fratelli Tutti Foundation, an institution aimed at investing “in cultural and spiritual formation through events, experiences, pathways and spiritual exercises… to promote dialogue with cultures and other religions on the themes of the Pontiff’s latest encyclicals, in order to build a ‘social alliance.”