SANCTIFYING OFFICE

Centrality of the Eucharist

“The Eucharist is the beating heart of the Church and of the People of God,” Cardinal Bagnasco said as Pope Francis’ special envoy to the Italian National Eucharistic Congress in 2016.

His appearance was itself unusual, given that it was the first time since the Second Vatican Council that the pope did not himself attend a Eucharistic Congress held in Italy. “Charity, missions, and works of mercy are born out of the Eucharist.” This teaching accords with that of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), that the Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Christian life” (1324).

In his homily at the conclusion of a January 2010 meeting of the permanent council of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Bagnasco spoke of the importance of the liturgy and devotion to the Eucharistic Jesus. He noted that everything ultimately springs forth from and returns to the Eucharist. “The divine Eucharist, the heart of the life and mission of the Church, vivifies our speech and makes our pastoral concern fruitful; it introduces our humble persons into the liturgy of Heaven; it purifies and restores everything as a gesture of love.” Only by participating in the Word of God made flesh are our words able to echo the Divine Word. “Only in assiduousness in his school, as docile and loving disciples, will we be able to be, in turn, an echo of the supreme Teacher, a voice of the Word that saves,” Bagnasco cautioned.

One of his last engagements as president of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences was to host a meeting on “Eucharist and Synodality” in September 2021. Bagnasco gave the opening lecture presenting the theme “Eucharist and Communion” in which he developed his theme in six points that biblically, theologically and ecclesiologically ground the close link between the Eucharist and Communion. The cardinal highlighted the contrast, already present in the biblical context and which can be perpetuated up to our days, between the sin that divides and the love that unites. He also highlighted the centrality of Christ as the unique and fundamental bond in communion between Christians and between men; looking at the world through the eyes of Christ.

Importance of Prayer

In a 2010 interview with L’Osservatore Romano, Cardinal Bagnasco said that prayer is a weapon against conforming to the dominant modern culture. “Prayer is contact with God, and God is truth.” “Certainly we need to dedicate time to prayer, each according to his own vocation, and draw close to those means that the liturgy and especially the Lord have put at our disposal: The Gospel, the book of Psalms and all of the other practices of piety.” These are all ways that “help us to find the truth of God and of man.”

The Traditional Latin Mass

In a speech opening the Sixty-Third General Assembly of the Italian Bishops’ Conference on May 23, 2011, Cardinal Bagnasco promised that the Italian bishops would correctly apply Pope Benedict XVI’s Summorum Pontificum as well as the 2011 instruction on its implementation, Universae Ecclesiae. Bagnasco noted that the intent of those documents was a “harmonious recovery of the entire liturgical heritage of the universal Church in each diocese.”

Bagnasco has himself celebrated the Tridentine Mass and defended its continued celebration. While he is supportive of those who wish to celebrate the old form of the Roman Rite, Bagnasco also has cautioned that harmony between individual local churches and the universal Church should not be disturbed over liturgical practices and disputes.

He has not weighed in on Pope Francis’ restrictions of the Traditional Latin Mass.

GOVERNING OFFICE

Cardinal Bagnasco has held many governing positions within the Italian Church over the course of his priestly ministry. After teaching courses on metaphysics and contemporary atheism at the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy for almost twenty years, in 1998 he was appointed a bishop for the Diocese of Pesaro, where he served until being appointed the military ordinary of Italy in 2003. Since 2006, he has served as archbishop of Genoa. In 2007, Bagnasco was elevated to the cardinalate by Pope Benedict XVI. Since then, he has served in the Curia as a member of the Congregations for the Oriental Churches and for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. Beginning in 2007, he served for ten years as president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, chosen by the pope (as all the country’s conference presidents are), at that time Benedict XVI. Since 2016, Bagnasco has served as president of the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe.

Addressing Sexual Abuse

Bagnasco has spoken of the need to address sexual abuse within the Church without excuses or cover-ups. He urged the Church not to fall back on the “tendency to dredge up excuses for the actions of certain clergy members,” and that the Church need not fear the truth, “even when it is painful,” and should not hide or cover up abuse. “It is appropriate, then, that we all return to calling things by their names at all times, to identify evil in all of its gravity and in the multiplicity of its manifestations.” In 2010, the Italian bishops revealed that about one hundred cases of clergy sexual abuse had been processed in Italian Church courts over the past decade.Cardinal Bagnasco, then serving as president of the conference, said that the Church has never sought to underestimate the severity of the sex abuse crisis and that it would do everything it could always to merit the trust of the Catholic laity. He affirmed that “a person who abuses minors needs to be concurrently brought to justice and receive treatment and mercy,” but also that “healing cannot replace punishment, let alone remit the sin.” Responding to reporters’ questions, Bagnasco acknowledged it is “possible that there have been cover-ups of sex abuse in Italy, too.” But he added that if the Church ever verified the cover-up of a case of clerical sexual abuse, it would clearly condemn such concealment as being “something that is wrong and which must be corrected and overcome.”

Investigation into Cardinal Dziwisz

In June 2021, the Vatican brought Cardinal Bagnasco out of retirement to investigate allegations against Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz related to the handling of abuse cases during his tenure as Archbishop of Krakow. Bagnasco’s investigation concluded that Dziwisz’s actions were correct, and the Vatican decided not to pursue the matter further. Dziwisz, who for decades served as Pope St. John Paul II’s personal secretary, expressed his appreciation for the work and for the Vatican “having judged the case fairly.”

Cardinal Bagnasco, he said, “made every effort to clarify the aforementioned allegations, which are undeserved and painful for me.”

Financial Transparency

The cardinal has also stressed the importance of transparency in Church finances. In 2011, he spoke at an Italian convention for diocesan finance workers and emphasized the “absolutely decisive importance of transparency” in society today. “When we speak of transparency, it doesn’t just mean highlighting honesty and correctness but a clear administration of assets that can be verified by all,” the cardinal continued. The success of donations to the Church depends on the ability of the faithful to track what their charitable giving is being used for. The credibility of the Church is never damaged by the clarity of its behavior, the cardinal added, noting that if real transparency “exists in every parish, the faithful will no longer look at the offering as a type of duty, but donating will become a great joy because each will live with the satisfaction of doing something good and concrete” for the Church.

Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bagnasco to the Congregation for Bishops, which is responsible for the cultivation of new bishops around the world. He was not reconfirmed to that role when Francis began his pontificate. Pope Francis also removed Bagnasco from his post in the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in 2016 — at the same time the pope removed a number of other Benedict XVI–appointed members of the congregation who were generally favorable toward Cardinal Sarah (then prefect of the congregation) and his vision for liturgical reform.

TEACHING OFFICE

Defending the Church in the Public Square

Cardinal Bagnasco has been especially keen to address conflicts between modern culture and Church teaching, particularly in his role as head of the Italian Bishops’ Conference and, more recently, as president of the European bishops’ conference.

Throughout his ministry, Cardinal Bagnasco has firmly upheld the right of the Church to offer guidance to the public on matters of moral principle that might affect judgments about public policy, generally not shying away from taking public stances on political issues implicating matters of moral principle. He has argued that those who exercise public authority have a duty to uphold certain nonnegotiable values, and private citizens should take those values into account when voting in elections and weighing public policies.

In a 2011 homily, for example, Bagnasco emphasized that the “moral issue in politics, as in all other realms of public and private life, is grave and urgent, and does not refer only to persons but also to structures and legislation.”¹“Ethics in Politics Is Urgent,” Secular Franciscan, 29 August 2011. Those who have “particular responsibilities in public life, in any way and at any level . . . have an imperative need [for conversion to and fidelity to moral values] — more than others — knowing that, through their actions, they propose cultural models that are destined to become dominant.”²“Ethics in Politics Is Urgent.” The whole of society needs to become a place “where values are breathed.”³“Ethics in Politics Is Urgent.”

In 2008, while presenting an inaugural address at the meeting of the Italian Bishops’ Conference permanent council meeting, Bagnasco challenged the notion that elections are not “a field that is relevant to the Church as such.”⁴Non-Negotiables Should Be Voting Criteria, Says Prelate,” Zenit, 13 March 2008 He echoed Benedict XVI’s admonition while speaking at a previous meeting of bishops in Verona that “the risk of political and legislative choices that contradict the fundamental values and anthropological principles and ethical roots at the nature of human beings” should be countered with determination.⁵Non-Negotiables Should Be Voting Criteria, Says Prelate,” Zenit, 13 March 2008  All citizens are called to make decisions in light of “fundamental values . . . that have always constituted the very being of the human person,” including “the protection of human life, in every stage, from conception to natural death” and “the promotion of the family founded on marriage, without introducing other forms of unions into public law that would contribute to destabilizing marriage, confusing its special characteristics and its irreplaceable social role.”⁶Non-Negotiables Should Be Voting Criteria, Says Prelate,” Zenit, 13 March 2008

In affirming universal values that “can often be discovered by reason,” the Church greatly values the good of reason and defends it “from both rationalistic tendencies, that try to restrict its horizons, and from the presumption of certain fideism that easily avoids the hard work of thinking.” ⁷Non-Negotiables Should Be Voting Criteria, Says Prelate,” Zenit, 13 March 2008 Bagnasco emphasized the Second Vatican Council’s teaching in Gaudium et Spes and recalled the Council’s teaching on what Bagnasco called “non-negotiable risks” that undermine the good of the person — including everything that is opposed to life itself, “such as every type of homicide, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, even voluntary suicide.”⁸Non-Negotiables Should Be Voting Criteria, Says Prelate,” Zenit, 13 March 2008

Bagnasco has urged Catholics to be more active in the public square, telling L’Osservatore Romano in 2008 that “Catholics must bring the contribution of spiritual and ethical values into the public square.” In doing so, Bagnasco explained, Catholics do not impose a religious vision of society, but rather propose universal truths. “The presence (in the public square) must be assumed by Catholics with greater persuasiveness and a greater capacity to respectfully explain our convictions, knowing that they come both from the Gospel and from a common understanding of the value of life.”

Upon being appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference in 2007, Cardinal Bagnasco said in an interview with Il Messaggero that the Church is not motivated, in its ministry in the public square, by self-interest or hegemony — rather, Catholics speak “about the value of the human person, and in this field, the Church has much to say.” Furthermore, in an interview with Il Giornale, Bagnasco explained the relationship between church and state: “Secularity is the autonomy of the civil and political domain in relation to the religious domain, but not in relation to the moral domain.”

Defending the Faith in the Public Square

Bagnasco sees Christian morality and gospel values (including those truths contained in the natural law) as universal, common values and essential foundations of the political order. He holds that it is a Christian duty to leaven the public square with Christian values. As a professor who taught about modern atheism, Bagnasco is attentive to the ways in which modern culture poses problems for people of faith. He has said that “no one is exempt” from the influences of the world that push for conformity to the dominant culture. Bagnasco noted, in a 2010 interview with L’Osservatore Romano, that Pope Benedict XVI himself “calls the faithful back to a greater awareness” of the fact that the Church lives amid a dictatorship of relativism, and that “no one is exempt from this climate of possible contamination that could impoverish the faith.” Catholics need to be vigilant and should be “in the world” but not “of the world,” meaning that Catholics must resist the dominant cultural currents while nevertheless being “exposed to all of the pressures and tensions and prodding that we know.” Living in the world but living by faith in a God who loves us, the cardinal continued, is the way Catholics should witness in the public square. “We need to truly believe that God loves us: (a truth) which holds the power to change our life.” When Catholics foster this interior conversion of heart and live their faith with conviction in the public square, Christian morality can better be upheld.

Cardinal Bagnasco has not shied away from espousing the Faith in the public square. After becoming president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference in 2007, Bagnasco led a campaign against an Italian government proposal legally to recognize homosexual civil unions. Then-Archbishop Bagnasco was assigned police bodyguards after threatening graffiti appeared on his cathedral and other buildings. Later, activists mailed a bullet to the archdiocesan office accompanied by a picture of Bagnasco with a Nazi swastika scratched into the image. These threats did not deter him from speaking truth in the public square.

In 2016, in his address opening that year’s general assembly of the Italian bishops, Bagnasco publicly resisted continued legislative efforts to recognize same-sex civil unions; he stressed that the law passed by the Italian Parliament “certifies an equivalence” between civil unions and marriage. While the law affirmed that civil unions and marriages are distinct things, Cardinal Bagnasco argued that those differences “are only tricks of terminology or juridical artifacts, which can be easily bypassed.” Bagnasco saw the civil union law as an intermediate step “on the path to the final strike, which will eventually include the approval of surrogate motherhood, a practice that exploits women, taking advantage of their poverty,” to supply children for same-sex couples.

In his address, Bagnasco quoted at length from Pope Francis’ statements on the nature of marriage and the family. He quoted the pope’s joint declaration with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, wherein the bishops said “the family is based on marriage, an act of freely given and faithful love between a man and a woman. We regret that other forms of cohabitation have been placed on the same level as this union, while the concept, consecrated in the biblical tradition, of paternity and maternity as the distinct vocation of man and woman in marriage is being banished from the public conscience.” Bagnasco further quoted Pope Francis’ remarks from a November 17, 2014, colloquium that “children have a right to grow up in a family with a father and a mother capable of creating a suitable environment for the child’s growth and emotional development.” In closing, Cardinal Bagnasco expressed his frustration: “It cannot be understood why these clear statements from Pope Francis, which the bishops often reiterate, are kept under silence, as if the pope had never said or written them.” The Italian bishops intended to “underscore the pope’s statements, so that they can turn into effective commitment.”

Canceled Prayer of Reparation for “Gay Pride”

Despite his clear positions, Bagnasco surprised many in 2019 when he canceled three separate public prayers of reparation for a “gay pride” parade scheduled to take place in Genoa and gave no explanation for his decision.

Importance of the Family

The foundational importance of the family is a theme that Cardinal Bagnasco sounds frequently. In a 2010 homily, while celebrating the solemnity of the Madonna della Guardia at the shrine in Liguria at the top of Mount Figogna, Bagnasco reflected on the family as the “womb of life.”

He spoke of the troubling trends reflected by Italy’s negative birthrate and warned that “demographic balance is not only necessary for the physical survival of a community — which without children has no future — but is also a condition for that alliance between generations that is essential for a normal democratic dialectic.” Negative birthrates reflect a serious cultural catastrophe, the cardinal said, and foster educational poverty — because the presence of young people causes all of us, not just parents, to come out of ourselves and engage in important discussions. “A society without babies and children, just as a society without the elderly, is seriously mutilated and unable to function.”

The Holy Family is the model for family life. When we ponder the Holy Family or gaze upon the sacred image of Our Lady with the Child, Bagnasco said, we can envision what life in Nazareth was like: “They lived in absolute simplicity, in the joyful toil of daily work, at home and in the carpenter’s shop; they lived the life of the village, relationships with their next door neighbors, participation in worship, the presence of God.” The Holy Family teaches us “of a profound and positive adherence to life as a gift that is given and which is not our absolute property.” The cardinal contrasted that image of family life with the dynamic of family life today. Bagnasco explained that modern couples and families collapse before “the blows of life and of relationships.” He continued: “The efforts of every day seem tedious and without meaning, hence unbearable. The future loses value and polish, the present is emphasized for what it promises of immediate satisfaction.”

A society that prizes immediate satisfaction is bound to see effects such as negative birthrates, Bagnasco said. A culture that worships immediate gratification will also fail to see the value of fidelity in relationships and family life, the cardinal explained. In this context, “fidelity is understood as something repetitive, tedious, deprived of thrills.” But in truth, fidelity allows love to grow and become something much more substantial than an initial feeling of effervescence. “In this growth, the daily repetition of so many little and great duties, of so many actions that seem grey, is like the tranquil and continuous rain that bathes the earth and fertilizes it. It is not the storm of great passions and impetuous transports that make one grow or that measure the substance of love, but daily and humble fidelity is the sign of love.”

As families grow in fidelity and love, they serve as the most fundamental “school of humanity and faith.” It is within the context of family life that one first learns to love by being loved, to trust in oneself and others, to discover beauty in different stages in life, to see the value of acceptance, humility, reliability, and the power of forgiveness given and received. The family teaches the Faith through daily prayer together, “participation in Sunday Mass, liturgical festivities with their traditions, pilgrimages to shrines, sacred images in the homes.” Ultimately, healthy family life gives us reasons to trust in the future, because we know it is impossible for “a mother [to] turn away from the gaze of her children.”

Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary

Mary is the model mother. In his homily in Fatima celebrating the hundredth anniversary of Our Mother’s June apparitions, Bagnasco praised Mary for keeping the Faith intact and explained that “the Blessed Virgin Mary, with the persistent patience of a Mother, always returns to preserve our faith and brings us back to the light of Jesus.” When preaching a homily on the occasion of the 126th anniversary of the birth of St. Padre Pio, Cardinal Bagnasco praised the saint’s devotion to the Blessed Mother.⁹The Preparation of a Saint, Archdiocese of Genoa, 25 May 2013 He called our love for the Virgin “not just a devotion, it is a program of life, it is a program of holiness.”.¹⁰The Preparation of a Saint, Archdiocese of Genoa, 25 May 2013  Man’s heart, Bagnasco said, always remains in need of maternal tenderness — a person whom he can resort to and confide in, who can comfort him, and who can help him to regain trust and courage.¹¹The Preparation of a Saint, Archdiocese of Genoa, 25 May 2013  There is no better person man can turn to than “the Mother of God and ours,” the cardinal said. “The Holy Virgin is the anchor in the storm, the port in fatigue, the star that orients, the gaze that includes, the hand that raises and accompanies. In whatever situation we find ourselves, we must not be discouraged or fearful: let us look at Mary.”¹²The Preparation of a Saint,Archdiocese of Genoa, 25 May 2013

Conscientious Objection

In 2009, Bagnasco implored Italian doctors to exercise their right to conscientious objection after Italian health-care officials approved the sale of the emergency abortion drug RU-486, calling for “an end to corruption and injustice.” The cardinal lamented that where there is no respect for human life “from conception in its fragility and later during its course, society is less human. That the right of the strongest thus prevails is bitter.” At the root of a society that does not value human life, Bagnasco noted, “is an individualistic culture, hidden under respect for the freedom of women,” who “in reality experience a tragedy, live in suffering and worry; when a truly human culture ought to take care of them.”

Humanae Vitae

In a speech at a conference marking the fiftieth anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s Encyclical Humanae Vitae reaffirming the Church’s constant teaching that contraception is always immoral, Cardinal Bagnasco remarked on the clarity of the pope’s message.¹³Card. Angelo Bagnasco, “Fiftieth Anniversary of the Encyclical Humanae Vitae,” Archdiocese of Genoa, 13 October 2018. Bagnasco noted that the pope correctly explained the “inseparable relationship between the unitive and the procreative ends” of marriage.¹⁴Bagnasco, “Fiftieth Anniversary of the Encyclical Humanae Vitae.” Marital love is to be a “total, faithful, indissoluble gift that gives life: it is fruitful. To break this plot, to disfigure love means to reduce people — oneself and the other — to an instrument of pleasure.”¹⁵Bagnasco, “Fiftieth Anniversary of the Encyclical Humanae Vitae.” Bagnasco reaffirmed the encyclical’s teaching that artificial contraception is to be always excluded and that natural means of regulating procreation using the woman’s fertility cycle, such as natural family planning, can be employed licitly.¹⁶Bagnasco, “Fiftieth Anniversary of the Encyclical Humanae Vitae.”

Amoris Laetitia

Cardinal Bagnasco firmly opposed the 2014 “Kasper Proposal” to allow access to Communion for the divorced and “remarried” on a case-by-case basis. Indeed, Bagnasco opposed such ideas long before the controversy came to head with the publication of Amoris Laetitia and the 2014 Synod of Bishops on the Family. In 2008, Bagnasco said it was impossible for divorced-and-“remarried” Catholics to receive the Eucharist, a fact that “does not depend on an external disposition but rather comes from the interior of the sacrament of the Eucharist itself, the sacrament of the perennial unity between the love of Christ and humanity.” He said some Catholics who are separated from their spouses suffer from the difficulty of the situation, yet “nonetheless live in fidelity to the indissolubility of the sacrament [of marriage] and desire to meet and pray together, to exchange experiences and encourage one another.” The “maternity of the Church” can be expressed in other ways than by admitting those who are living in ways that violate the indissolubility of marriage to the sacrament of Holy Communion. However, the cardinal chose to keep silent over the dubia — five questions that four cardinals put to Pope Francis in late 2016 that aimed to clear up ambiguities many saw in the text of Amoris Laetitia, especially over the issue of Holy Communion for civilly “remarried” divorcees.

On Euthanasia

Cardinal Bagnasco has spoken out against euthanasia and assisted suicide. These practices are the result, he says, of “a world order without God.” He explained, “Only without God do we reach this point [where the terminally ill are euthanized], as we have no more criteria for love and for living together, for loving others. Without God, we do not follow the rationale of love, but we rather follow the different rationale of effectiveness and of wellbeing at all costs.”

“A Heart That Beats”

In October 2023, Cardinal Bagnasco put his name to proposed legislation that would oblige a doctor about to carry out an abortion to show the mother images of the unborn child she is carrying in her womb and “to make her listen to [the child’s] heartbeat.”

Called “A Heart That Beats” and the idea of the pro-life group Pro-Vita e Famiglia (Pro-Life and Family), the bill collected around 106,000 signatures in support of the legislation, which is more than double the 50,000 signatures required for a referendum in Italy. The legislation has yet to be passed into law and remains under consideration in the Italian parliament.

Persecuted Christians

The persecution of Christians around the world is also the result of “a world order without God.” “Even today,” Bagnasco said in 2016, “Christians experience martyrdom,” not only in the classical sense, but also in new forms, “refined, but not less cruel; legalized, but not less unjust,” such as the legal practice of killing Christians in countries such as Pakistan, where blasphemy laws allow such injustices. This “world order without God” is partially a result of Europe’s forgetting its own past, such that it now considers Christianity divisive, and of a world which “in the name of values like equality, tolerance and rights” effectively marginalizes Christianity.

Europe’s Christian Roots

As president of the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe, Bagnasco has had a unique platform to address what he views as the deep problems facing the continent. Europe has forgotten its roots, which were formed by three cities: Jerusalem, Athens, and Rome. Europe’s roots are Christian. The “world order without God” that is wreaking havoc on human lives, Bagnasco argues, gained steam from the cultural revolution of 1968, which included the sexual revolution. The dismantling of Western culture wrought by this revolution “made the human being ever more individualistic and less related with others; hence, always more alone. This is how people are made weak. And a society of weak people is a weak society.” Bagnasco argues that Europe is a weak society and that it has marginalized Christianity out of fear, forgetful of the fact that the light of the gospel created European civilization and its humanism. “The crisis of the world is above all a spiritual crisis,” Bagnasco explains, and the solution to the crisis, therefore, lies in a return to faith and a new embrace of the Christian gospel.

In January 2024, Cardinal delivered a speech at a conference entitled  “The Suicide of the West” in which he lamented the growth of anti-Christian sentiments and said Europe needs a “moral refoundation and examination of conscience.”

He noted how Europe is now questioning whether Christianity, which has contributed so much to civilization, could be considered an enemy of humanity. Bagnasco argued that Christianity is integral to Europe’s cultural and spiritual identity, urging a return to its roots to address contemporary challenges.

He highlighted the importance of Christianity in shaping European values and identity, stating that it is not an ideology but an encounter with Christ, which affirms human dignity and moral action. He stressed the need for Europe to believe in reason and transcendence, suggesting that modernity has distanced itself from classical culture. He called for a rediscovery of reason, not just in science but in metaphysics, to address moral and existential questions.

Bagnasco emphasized Europe’s spiritual heritage, arguing that material well-being alone cannot create social cohesion. He urged Europe to embrace its Christian roots, which foster a sense of belonging and commitment. He also discussed the role of Christianity in fostering a universal community, distinct from political authority, and its potential to guide Europe through crises.

The Cardinal concluded by asserting that Christianity must remain prophetic, challenging societal norms and advocating for truth and moral values. He cited thinkers like Vaclav Havel and Norberto Bobbio to underline the ongoing relevance of religious and philosophical questions in contemporary society, emphasizing that the strength of the Faith lies in its ability to address fundamental human concerns.

In September 2023, he gave another speech about Europe in which he argued that to address the “irreversible” phenomenon of immigration it is necessary to give hospitality to refugees by combining the rights and duties of those who welcome and those who are welcomed. True integration does not come from an indiscriminate welcome, he said, but from an integration action based on the recognition of Europe’s Christian roots.

In a June 2024 interview with Il Timone, Cardinal Bagnasco again addressed the scourges affecting Europe and the West, and proposed boldly preaching the Catholic faith as the solution.

“In a time in which it is forbidden to ‘judge’ — while instead we often judge with superficiality and ferocity — it is necessary to reaffirm this: if faith does not become a judgment on man, society and history, it denies itself. It becomes a moralizing exhortation, evanescent feeling, syncretistic and worldly humanitarianism,” he said.

“This is why the Church cannot be silent,” he continued. “She must be salt and yeast, light and a visible city. She doesn’t want to impose herself on anyone, she welcomes everyone but not everything” — words certainly reminiscent of John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

Elsewhere in the interview, he stressed that the Church will only be significant if she proclaims Christ, not if she “repeats the words of the world.”

Priestly Celibacy

Bagnasco would not welcome a departure from the discipline of celibacy for Latin-Rite Catholic priests. The Italian Bishops’ Conference in 2010 voted against allowing Romanian Catholic priests, who are permitted to marry, to exercise their ministry in Italy.In a September 13, 2010, letter from Bagnasco to Lucian Muresan, Major Archbishop of the Romanian Catholic Church, explaining the Italian Bishops’ Conference decision not to allow the presence of married Romanian Catholic priests in Italy, the cardinal said that the conference had determined that “at present and in general, there is not ‘just and reasonable cause’ to justify the granting of the dispensation” allowing those priests to exercise their ministry in Italy. Cardinal Bagnasco cited the importance of “protecting ecclesiastical celibacy” and the need to “prevent confusion among the faithful” in explaining to Muresan the decision to exclude married Romanian Catholic priests from ministry in Italy.

Male Priesthood

Bagnasco upholds the Church’s teaching that only men can receive Holy Orders. In 2014, the Church of England voted to allow female bishops, creating insurmountable difficulties in ecumenical efforts to bring that ecclesial community closer to the Roman Catholic Church. When asked about the Anglican development, Cardinal Bagnasco responded that the Catholic Church’s view on female priests was clear and that “everyone knows what [the Church] thinks.” Cardinal Bagnasco’s traditional views on all-male priesthood and the importance of celibacy for Latin-Rite priests strongly suggest that he opposes the possibility of ordaining women deacons. No statement of Bagnasco’s views on whether homosexuals are to be admitted to the priesthood has been found.

Relations with Judaism

Cardinal Bagnasco does not see the evangelization of Jews as appropriate. In September 2009, Bagnasco met with two Italian rabbis to extend his greetings to all Italian Jews and wish them a happy Jewish new year. In a statement from the Italian Bishops’ Conference following the meeting, the bishops (with Bagnasco then their head) noted, “There has been no change in the attitude of the Catholic Church towards the Jewish people, especially since the Second Vatican Council. Thus, the Italian Bishops’ Conference reiterates that it is not the Catholic Church’s intention to work actively for the conversion of the Jews.”

Evangelization

This special relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people is not the standard approach of Catholics to evangelization. Speaking to reporters in Poland during the 2018 Plenary Assembly of the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe, Bagnasco was asked about the importance of Europe’s retaining its Christian roots and transmitting the Faith to its young people in the midst of secularization. The cardinal emphasized the urgent need to evangelize not only non-Catholics but Catholics, and especially young people, as well. “If the Church did not announce the Gospel today in every possible way, she would not be faithful to the Gospel and would not be faithful to the young,” he said. “While our culture “impels us to be individualists, separated from each other, as individuals, as groups and as states, despite all this, and in fact, precisely because of all this, there is an ever greater need to proclaim the hope that is Jesus, who has made us a new people.” Individualistic and liberal culture dissolves relationships, and the result is “not a greater happiness, it is not a more supportive society, but it is a more divided society, anguish, bewilderment.” All people desire relationship, desire community — this is the “profound desire of the heart of every person, to whom the Church must respond.” In evangelizing and in announcing Christ’s good news, the cardinal stressed, “we must recover the relational dimension and therefore the community dimension, that individualistic and liberal culture attack and want to dissolve. This evangelization is the duty not only of clergy but of laity also.

The work of evangelization is rooted in Sacred Scripture as its source.”

Cardinal Bagnasco has preached on the gratuitous nature of God’s revelation of Himself to man. In his pastoral letter to the Archdiocese of Genoa for 2007, Bagnasco cited Dei Verbum in explaining that the first part of the Mass nourishes us with Word of God because “God out of the abundance of His love speaks to men as friends and lives among them, so that He may invite and take them into fellowship with Himself.”¹⁷This Is My Body: Pastoral Letter 2007-2008,” Archdiocese of Genoa, 1 October 2007 The Word of Scripture, he continued, narrates the works of God and contains “a unique efficacy that no human word, though high, possesses.”¹⁸This Is My Body: Pastoral Letter 2007-2008,” Archdiocese of Genoa, 1 October 2007  The cardinal has also hosted a seminar for diocesan clergy on the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum and its reception in the Apostolic Exhortation Verbum Domini.¹⁹Refresher Meeting for the Clergy,” Archdiocese of Genoa, 6 March 2014

The importance of evangelization is tied to the Church’s desire that as many as possible might be saved and enjoy beatific life with the Holy Trinity in God’s Kingdom. Cardinal Bagnasco noted in a 2012 homily celebrating All Souls’ Day that “faith saves us from the perspective that death coincides with our annihilation, a prospect that would make our actions vain because, if we live only to end up in nothingness, we live only for the present moment.”²⁰ I Believe in the Resurrection of the Flesh and Eternal Life, Archdiocese of Genoa, 2 November 2013 Bagnasco explained that we all must come to feel the need for salvation and to believe, as we say we do in the Apostles’ Creed, in the resurrection of the flesh and eternal life.²¹I Believe in the Resurrection of the Flesh and Eternal Life, Archdiocese of Genoa, 2 November 2013

Rejection of Universalism

Bagnasco evidently rejects universalism. He has said that, when a person dies, his immortal soul presents itself before the Most High to give an account of his life, “hoping to hear the words of Christ: ‘Come, good and faithful servant.’”²²I Believe in the Resurrection of the Flesh and Eternal Life, Archdiocese of Genoa, 2 November 2013  We all hope for salvation, the cardinal said, but we must take good care of our spirit to make us fit to enjoy the Kingdom.²³I Believe in the Resurrection of the Flesh and Eternal Life, Archdiocese of Genoa, 2 November 2013

He has also warned in homilies of God’s “severe” judgment of those who persist in sin.²⁴ Angelo Card. Bagnsaco, The Easter Joy, Archdiocese of Genoa, 19 April 2014

Islam

When French priest Fr. Jacques Hamel was stabbed to death in his church by an Islamist terrorist in 2016, Italy’s Islamic Religious Community sent delegates to attend Catholic Masses throughout Italy to show solidarity. The community explained in a statement, “We feel it is essential at this time with this greeting from the Muslims of Italy to give a concrete signal of profound respect for the sacredness of the rites, the ministers and the places of worship of the Christian faith.”

The presence of Muslims at Catholic Masses caused some controversy, with criticism coming from both Muslim and Catholic quarters. Cardinal Bagnasco was “baffled” by these criticisms, explaining that he did not understand them. “The presence [of Muslims at Mass] aimed to be a condemnation, a clear, absolute signal of distance by all those who do not accept any form of violence for any reasons, never mind religious,” Bagnasco explained. He stated that he was pleased by the show of solidarity from Muslims in Italy and that after Fr. Hamel had been murdered, the Italian bishops asked for help from the Islamic community “because we believe that the best reaction is that of a united condemnation [of terrorism] without hesitation.”

Islam and Persecution

As mentioned above, Bagnasco has forcefully decried the persecution of Christians around the world by Muslims. In 2015, Bagnasco noted that the “cull of Christians continues” in the Middle East and Africa, where it “seems somebody has decided to uproot them to cleanse the territory.” He asked, “Why, we ask the western world, why not raise one’s voice over so much ferocity and injustice?”The cardinal’s question was presumably aimed at those Catholics who fear that condemning extreme, militant Islamists might undercut positive achievements that have been attained in Catholic-Muslim dialogue.

After a terrorist attack in Paris in November 2015 left more than 130 people dead, Bagnasco called on the Muslim world to “loudly disassociate itself” from ISIS. He added, “I am sure that not the whole Muslim world approves of these acts of brutality, but dissenters seem to lack the strength to explicitly condemn them and distance themselves from them.” Bagnasco argues that “the Islamic world is very pluralistic,” and that they “have no single authority.”²⁵Alessandro Cassinis, “Bagnsaco: ‘There Is No Religious War. From Islam I Would Like a Strong Condemnation,’” Il Secolo XIX, 15 November 2015 The cardinal has condemned Islamic fundamentalism and challenged Muslims around the world to demonstrate the compatibility of their religion with Christian civilization by forcefully condemning acts of terror such as those carried out by ISIS. Bagnasco was one of the Church’s most committed defenders of Pope Benedict’s 2006 Regensburg address, which raised the issue of Islam and violence.

Immigration and Catholic Social Thought

Cardinal Bagnasco has tried to take a balanced public stance on immigration, one that accords with the teachings of the Catechism and of the Church’s Magisterium.

In a 2018 interview with La Stampa, Bagnasco spoke about current immigration policies in Italy. He noted that immigration is an “epochal phenomenon that does not seem bound to end rapidly, if it ends” and recalled important criteria “which are not only Christian, but humanitarian,” regarding the welcoming of immigrants. One such criterion is solidarity. He noted that while immigration policies should be governed at a general level by these criteria, tackling the phenomenon in practice requires “prudence, balance and wisdom.” In 2016, Bagnasco said that the ongoing movement from the poor global south to the rich global north is “irreversible,” but also that the differing realities of each country in Europe make a uniform response of the Church in Europe (and of political actors in Europe) to the refugee crisis impossible. Building on the comments of Cardinal Erdő (with whom he was addressing the media), Bagnasco said that one cannot make quick judgments about an individual country’s decision to build a fence or wall to regulate immigration, for example. The Church’s mission, Bagnasco explained, “is to announce the Gospel and its values, certainly not to give political or operational indications.” The Church is not a geopolitical expert, he said, and its pastors are tasked first and foremost with proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ, not delivering public-policy solutions.

The cardinal noted a difference between the “welcoming stage” during an emergency, when refugees need a roof over their heads and food and clothing provided, and the stage of “integration,” which implies on the part of immigrants “the will to stay in a country, respecting [its] cultures and the laws.” “You can’t live in the welcoming stage forever,” the cardinal added, “because this becomes welfare and it isn’t good for anyone.”

In 2011, Bagnasco observed that the influx of migrants from North Africa to Italy was too much for Italy to handle on its own. While it is important to foster a spirit of welcome and to provide aid to migrants and refugees, there is a tipping point beyond which a nation’s resources are spread too thin. Bagnasco explained that immigration emergencies in Europe stem from long-standing global inequities that cannot be solved simply by policing borders. “It’s an illusion to think that one can live in peace, keeping at a distance young populations that are burdened by deprivation and that are legitimately trying to satisfy their hunger,” the cardinal said.“Policies of true cooperation” are needed to create situations in which these people will not feel the need to leave their homeland, he added.

• 1
  “Ethics in Politics Is Urgent,” Secular Franciscan, 29 August 2011.
• 2
  “Ethics in Politics Is Urgent.”
• 3
  “Ethics in Politics Is Urgent.”
• 4
  Non-Negotiables Should Be Voting Criteria, Says Prelate,” Zenit, 13 March 2008
• 5
  Non-Negotiables Should Be Voting Criteria, Says Prelate,” Zenit, 13 March 2008
• 6
  Non-Negotiables Should Be Voting Criteria, Says Prelate,” Zenit, 13 March 2008
• 7
  Non-Negotiables Should Be Voting Criteria, Says Prelate,” Zenit, 13 March 2008
• 8
  Non-Negotiables Should Be Voting Criteria, Says Prelate,” Zenit, 13 March 2008
• 9
  The Preparation of a Saint, Archdiocese of Genoa, 25 May 2013
• 10
  The Preparation of a Saint, Archdiocese of Genoa, 25 May 2013
• 11
  The Preparation of a Saint, Archdiocese of Genoa, 25 May 2013
• 12
  The Preparation of a Saint,Archdiocese of Genoa, 25 May 2013
• 13
  Card. Angelo Bagnasco, “Fiftieth Anniversary of the Encyclical Humanae Vitae,” Archdiocese of Genoa, 13 October 2018.
• 14
  Bagnasco, “Fiftieth Anniversary of the Encyclical Humanae Vitae.”
• 15
  Bagnasco, “Fiftieth Anniversary of the Encyclical Humanae Vitae.”
• 16
  Bagnasco, “Fiftieth Anniversary of the Encyclical Humanae Vitae.”
• 17
  This Is My Body: Pastoral Letter 2007-2008,” Archdiocese of Genoa, 1 October 2007
• 18
  This Is My Body: Pastoral Letter 2007-2008,” Archdiocese of Genoa, 1 October 2007
• 19
  Refresher Meeting for the Clergy,” Archdiocese of Genoa, 6 March 2014
• 20
  I Believe in the Resurrection of the Flesh and Eternal Life, Archdiocese of Genoa, 2 November 2013
• 21
  I Believe in the Resurrection of the Flesh and Eternal Life, Archdiocese of Genoa, 2 November 2013
• 22
  I Believe in the Resurrection of the Flesh and Eternal Life, Archdiocese of Genoa, 2 November 2013
• 23
  I Believe in the Resurrection of the Flesh and Eternal Life, Archdiocese of Genoa, 2 November 2013
• 24
  Angelo Card. Bagnsaco, The Easter Joy, Archdiocese of Genoa, 19 April 2014
• 25
  Alessandro Cassinis, “Bagnsaco: ‘There Is No Religious War. From Islam I Would Like a Strong Condemnation,’” Il Secolo XIX, 15 November 2015