Pope Francis confirmed the President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa, until the appointment of the new President on the occasion of the General Assembly, which will be held from May 22-25, 2017.
Angelo Bagnasco grew up in Lombardy of a Genoese family displaced because of the War; he was ordained presbyter for the Archdiocese of Genoa on June 29, 1966, by the imposition of the hands of Cardinal Giuseppe Siri.
Pope John Paul II appointed him Bishop of Pesaro on January 3, 1998. He received his episcopal consecration on February 7, 1998. On August 29, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Archbishop of Genoa and, ten years ago, on March 7, 2007, the German Pope called him to replace Cardinal Camillo Ruini at the head of the Italian Episcopal Conference. On June 29, 2007, together with other Metropolitan Archbishops, he received the sacred pallium from Benedict XVI in Saint Peter’s Basilica.
As announced on Oct. 17, 2007, Benedict XVI made him cardinal in the Consistory of Nov. 24 of the same year. Benedict XVI confirmed him President of the Italian Episcopal Conference for five more years on March 7, 2012.
