Angelo Bagnasco (born January 14, 1943) is an Italian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church.He currently serves as Archbishop of Genoa and President of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI).
On October 17, 2007, the Pope announced that he will make Bagnasco a Cardinal.
Bagnasco was elevated to the College of Cardinals in the consistory at St. Peter's Basilica on today, November 24, 2007.
He is considered to be conservative in his views, and a theological ally of his predecessor in the CEI, Camillo Cardinal Ruini.
Bagnasco was born in Pontevico, where his family was evacuated during World War II.
He said in an interview: "I became an altar boy in my parish in the historic center of Genoa, in Piazza Sarzano, when I was six years old. My old parish priest was Abbot Giovanni Battista Gazzolo, first, and afterwards Monsignor Carlo Viacava while his deputy was a young curate, Don Gianni Zamiti—the latter two are still alive and overjoyed that their little altar boy has become their archbishop—who supervised us on afternoons in the parish club where we went to play. The desire to become a priest was born precisely when I was in elementary school, but I didn’t confide it to anybody. Afterwards I went to a co-ed middle school, always with that desire in my heart."
He was ordained to the priesthood on June 29, 1966 by Giuseppe Cardinal Siri. While a priest in Genoa, he received a degree in philosophy from the University of Genoa, served as professor of metaphysics and atheism at the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy, and led the archdiocesan liturgical and catechesis offices.
He was once the diocesan representative to the FUCI (the Italian Catholic Federation of University Students) and led efforts for the pastoral care of students in the region.
Following the resignation of Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, Bagnasco was appointed Archbishop of Genoa on August 29, 2006. He was installed on the following September 24. He defended Pope Benedict XVI in the Regensburg controversy.
On March 7, 2007, Benedict XVI selected Bagnasco to succeed Camillo Cardinal Ruini as President of the Italian Episcopal Conference for a five-year term.
"The choice is a compromise between two of Benedict's two most influential policy-movers—Bagnasco is a confirmed Ruini-ite, 'but Bertone likes him,' as one op put it."
On June 27, 2007, Archbishop Bagnasco, along with several other prelates, attended a briefing at the Apostolic Palace on Pope Benedict's impending motu proprio allowing wider celebration of the Tridentine Mass.
Two days after this meeting, on June 29, he and forty-five others were invested with the pallium, a woolen garment reserved for metropolitan bishops, by Benedict in St. Peter's Basilica.
In April 2007, following a condemnation of same-sex unions—in which he said, "Why say 'no' to forms of legally recognised co-habitation which create alternatives to the family? Why say 'no' to incest? Why say 'no' to the paedophile party in Holland?"
Bagnasco found himself the target of death threats from gay-rights activists. The Genoa police department, while dismissing any serious cause for concern, assigned an armed officer to guard him.
Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, Italy's environment minister and a vocal supporter of gay rights, said Bagnasco had made a "grave, foolish comparison which offends millions of people".
Italy's bishops have called on Catholic politicians to vote against the bill which would grant rights in areas such as health care and inheritance to unmarried couples—including same-sex ones—who register their relationship.
On June 12, 2007, the Archbishop "received a second package containing a death threat as well as a number of bullets. "The latest threat follows one sent previously on April 27, in which a single bullet was posted".
Bagnasco affirmed that each man has the right to be enployed. He also advised that the flexibility of the workforce has to be limited.
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