In an unprecedented move, Pope Leo XIV transferred Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, O.F.M. Conv., Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica and vicar general of the Vatican City State, to the Archdiocese of Chieti-Vasto. Cardinal Gambetti will now lead a diocese of 270,000 Catholics.
Appointment as Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica is typically a capstone, and Cardinal Gambetti’s predecessors as archpriest ended their tenure by retirement, death in office, or election to the papacy.
Cardinal Gambetti, 60, was custos general of the General Custody of the Sacred Convent of Saint Francis in Assisi from 2013 to 2021. Pope Francis named him a cardinal in 2020 and transferred him to St. Peter’s Basilica in 2021. His tenure there has been marked by controversy.
Pope Leo has not yet named a new archpriest.