VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — The archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica is expected to be transferred to an Italian archdiocese this weekend in what Vatican insiders describe as a quiet reassignment following years of controversy over his management of the basilica.
According to Vatican sources, Cardinal Mauro Gambetti is expected to leave his positions as archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica and vicar general of His Holiness for Vatican City State to be reassigned as the new archbishop of Chieti-Vasto this weekend.
The upcoming official appointment by the Holy See comes as the current archbishop of Chieti-Vasto, Bruno Forte, reaches retirement. Forte’s 22-year tenure saw a collapse in local vocations, leaving an aging clergy dependent on “a dozen priests imported” from India to cover several vacant rural parishes, according to an analysis by Silere Non Possum.
In a Friday morning meeting, Gambetti convened “with the canons of the Vatican Chapter” where he “confirmed that tomorrow, Saturday, October 3, his appointment as Archbishop of a diocese will be announced,” according to reporting from Francesco Capozza, Vatican journalist for Italian newspaper Il Tempo.
Vatican insiders report that the transfer would serve as a quiet reassignment for Gambetti, following intense criticism over his management of the Vatican basilica, including controversial commercial ventures and repeated Eucharistic desecrations on the main altar.
Alongside his role as archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, Gambetti, an Italian Conventual Franciscan friar elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope Francis in November 2020, serves as president of the Fabric of Saint Peter. In these key positions, Gambetti has exercised overall administrative, security, and liturgical governance over St. Peter’s Basilica and the internal administration of Vatican City State. He also serves as chair of the Vatican’s “Fratelli Tutti” Foundation and sits on several curial dicasteries.
Under Gambetti’s management, a major commercial scandal broke in January 2026, when news leaked and was subsequently confirmed by Holy See Press Office Director Matteo Bruni that secretive construction work was underway on the main terrace of St. Peter’s Basilica to build a commercial bistro-style restaurant.
Executed by the Fabric of St. Peter without prior consultation with the basilica’s chapter of canons, the project seeks to convert former storage rooms once used by the so-called “sampietrini” (namely, maintenance staff) into a dining facility intended for tourists.
The initiative sparked intense embarrassment and outrage among local clergy and prelates, who condemned the commercialization of the sacred site and questioned the appropriateness of operating a restaurant directly above the nave and the tomb of the apostle St. Peter.
According to the Italian Vatican journalist Franca Giansoldati, the controversial bistro project is already completed and was expected to open as early as September, “unless there is direct intervention from Leo XIV.” However, as of reporting, the bistro does not appear to be operational.
Gambetti’s tenure as archpriest has also been marred by a recurring series of security failures and grave profanations inside the papal basilica, with at least seven cases of profanation within the church.
On June 1, 2023, a naked man climbed onto the central Altar of the Confession while shouting a pro-Ukraine message. On February 7, 2025, a Romanian citizen climbed onto the same Altar of the Confession, stripped the altar cloth, and hurled heavy metal candlesticks to the floor; no penitential rite of reparation was conducted following the incident.
Again, on October 10, 2025, a drunk man stripped naked and urinated on the Altar of the Confession. An immediate rite of reparation was initially avoided by basilica management and was only carried out following direct intervention by Pope Leo XIV. On January 17, 2026, another unidentified man desecrated the altar in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament during perpetual Eucharistic adoration, violently throwing the monstrance, altar cross, and candlesticks to the ground in front of worshippers.
On February 8, 2026, two separate Eucharistic profanations occurred during a Sunday Mass celebrated by Gambetti, when security staff allowed one man to walk off with multiple consecrated Hosts to distribute in the pews, and an Asian woman to forcibly shove a consecrated Host into the mouth of a frightened 4-year-old child. Finally, on August 11, 2026, a Muslim man was filmed praying toward Mecca inside St. Peter’s Basilica, triggering widespread scandal and outrage among the faithful present.