Frate Gambetti became bishop "Today I received a priceless gift"

The Franciscan friar Mauro Gambetti was ordained bishop on Sunday afternoon in Assisi less than a week before becoming a cardinal.

At 55, Gambetti will be the third youngest member of the College of Cardinals. At his episcopal ordination on November 22, he said he felt he was taking a leap in depth.

“There are turning points in life, which sometimes involve jumps. What I am experiencing now, I consider as a plunge from the springboard into the open sea, while I hear myself repeated: 'duc in altum' ”, Gambetti said, quoting Jesus' command to Simon Peter to“ put out into the deep. "

Gambetti was consecrated bishop on the feast of Christ the King in the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi by Cardinal Agostino Vallini, Papal Legate for the Basilicas of San Francesco d'Assisi and Santa Maria degli Angeli.

“On the day we celebrate the triumph of Christ's love, the Church gives us a particular sign of this love through the consecration of a new bishop,” Vallini said in his homily.

The cardinal instructed Gambetti to use the gift of his episcopal consecration to commit himself to "manifesting and bearing witness to the goodness and charity of Christ".

“The oath you take this evening with Christ, dear Fr. Mauro, is that from today you can look at every person with the eyes of a father, of a good, simple and welcoming father, of a father who gives joy to people, who is ready to listen to anyone who wants to open up to him, a humble and patient; in a word, a father who shows the face of Christ on his face, ”Vallini said.

“Ask the Lord, therefore, to always maintain, even as bishop and cardinal, a lifestyle that is simple, open, attentive, particularly sensitive to those who suffer in soul and body, a style of a true Franciscan”.

Gambetti is one of the three Franciscans who will receive a red hat from Pope Francis in a consistory on November 28. Since 2013 he has been the general custodian, or head, of the convent attached to the Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi.

The other two Franciscans who will be appointed cardinals are the Capuchin Celestino Aós Braco, archbishop of Santiago de Chile, and the 86-year-old Capuchin friar Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, who asked Pope Francis for permission to remain "a simple priest" rather than undergo the usual episcopal ordination before receiving his red hat.

Gambetti will be the first conventual Franciscan to become a cardinal since 1861, according to GCatholic.org.

Born in a small town outside Bologna in 1965, Gambetti graduated in mechanical engineering from the University of Bologna - the oldest university in the world - before joining the Conventual Franciscans at the age of 26.

He made his final vows in 1998 and was ordained a priest in 2000. After ordination he served in youth ministry in the Italian region of Emilia Romagna before being elected Superior of the Franciscans in the province of Bologna in 2009.

Gambetti will be one of 13 new cardinals created by Pope Francis in a consistory on November 28.

"Today I received a priceless gift," he said after his episcopal ordination. “Now a dip in the open sea awaits me. To tell the truth, not a simple dip, but a true triple somersault. "