Today, @Pontifex appointed as cardinal an under-80 priest who is not yet a bishop.

Franciscan Fr Mauro Gambetti, Custos of Assisi's Sacred Convent, joins @jesuitczerny as the only non-bishops appointed cardinal-electors since Paul VI required that all cardinals be bishops. 1/

Church law requires that non-bishops be ordained bishop prior to the consistory, as Cardinal Czerny was by Pope Francis in October 2019 on the eve of receiving the red hat. I expect that the same will be true for Fr Gambetti next month. 2/

While the bishops-only rule has been in place for decades, until 2019, only non-bishops named cardinal under that rule were over 80. In many cases the episcopal ordination requirement was waived and they remained priests, including Avery Dulles and Yves Congar (pictured). 3/

As with +Czerny, whose work in care for creation & integral human development was congruent with Francis' vision in Laudato Si & Querida Amazonia (his consistory occurred immediately before the Amazon Synod), there is also a symbolic significance to Fr Gambetti's appointment. 4/

He is the Custodian of the Sacred Convent of Assisi (the head of the Franciscan friary adjacent to the Basilica of St Francis) who welcomed Francis to Assisi on October 3 for the signing of the the encyclical Fratelli Tutti. This can be no coincidence. 5/

Once again, an unconventional appointment to the cardinalate has both a practical and symbolic significance.

Not only was Fr Gambetti selected as a possible successor to St Peter, but this reinforces the deep connection between our pope and the saint whose name he chose. 6/6