From engineer to friar: the story of the new Cardinal Gambetti

Despite having a degree in mechanical engineering, the cardinal designate Mauro Gambetti decided to dedicate the journey of his life to another type of builder, San Francesco d'Assisi.

Not far from where a young St. Francis heard the Lord call him to "go and rebuild my church" is the Sacred Convent of Assisi, where the designated cardinal has been the guardian since 2013.

He will be one of the youngest men elevated to the College of Cardinals on November 28, having just celebrated his 55th birthday on October 27, two days after Pope Francis announced his name.

He told Vatican News that as soon as he heard his name, he said it must be a "papal joke".

But after it sank, he said he received the news "with gratitude and joy in a spirit of obedience to the church and service to humanity at such a difficult time for all of us."

“I entrust my journey to Saint Francis and take his words on fraternity as my own. (It is) a gift that I will share with all of God's children along a path of love and compassion towards each other, our brother or sister, ”he said on October 25.

Just a few weeks earlier, on October 3, the cardinal-designate welcomed Pope Francis to Assisi to celebrate mass at the tomb of St. Francis and to sign his latest encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, on the social, political and economic obligations that come with being children. of God and brothers and sisters for each other.

Expressing his thanks to all those who sent prayers, notes, messages, e-mails and phoned after the announcement that he would become a cardinal, the Conventual Franciscan wrote on 29 October: "We have worked and we have made the world more human and fraternal according to the Gospel “.

While the cardinal-designate made few comments to the press, those who know him made numerous statements expressing joy and praise.

The Franciscan community of the convent said that with their joy there was also sadness for having lost a brother "so loved by us and priceless for the Franciscan fraternity".

The provincial vicar of the Italian province, Father Roberto Brandinelli, wrote in a statement: “Once again we were taken by surprise. Many of us imagined the possibility that Brother Mauro would be appointed bishop given his skills and the excellent service "he provided. “But we didn't think he would be appointed cardinal. Not now, at least ”, when he wasn't even a bishop.

The last time a conventual Franciscan was appointed cardinal, he said, was in the consistory of September 1861 when the Sicilian friar, Antonio Maria Panebianco, received his red hat.

The appointment of Gambetti, Brandinelli said, "fills us with joy and makes us proud of our family of conventual Franciscans, particularly appreciated in this season of the universal church".

Born in a small town near Bologna, the cardinal designate joined the Conventual Franciscans after earning a degree in mechanical engineering. He also received degrees in theology and theological anthropology. Ordained a priest in 2000, he then worked in youth ministry and vocation programs for the Emilia-Romagna region.

In 2009 he was elected Superior of the province of Bologna of Sant'Antonio da Padova and served there until 2013 when he was called to be Minister General and Custos of the Sacred Convent of San Francesco d'Assisi.

He was also appointed episcopal vicar for the pastoral care of the Basilica of San Francesco and other places of worship presided over by the conventual Franciscans of the diocese.

He was elected for a second four-year term as a custodian in 2017; that term was supposed to end in early 2021, but with his elevation to the College of Cardinals, his successor, the Conventual Franciscan Father Marco Moroni, first assumed his new role