Angelo Bagnasco

Bagnasco was born to Alfredo and Rosa Bagnasco in Pontevico (Brescia), 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".[1]

He attended the liceum of classics at the archdiocesan seminary of Genoa, and was ordained to the priesthood on 29 June 1966 by Cardinal Giuseppe Siri. While a priest in Genoa, he received a degree in philosophy from the University of Genoa, served as professor of metaphysics and contemporary 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.[2]

Bagnasco was appointed Bishop of Pesaro on 3 January 1998. He received his episcopal consecration on the following 7 February from Archbishop Dionigi Tettamanzi, with Bishops Gaetano Michetti and Giacomo Barabino serving as co-consecrators. Bagnasco became Metropolitan Archbishop of the same see on 11 March 2000.

Since 2001, he has held several posts within the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), including president of the administrative board of its newspaper Avvenire, and secretary for schools and universities. On 20 June 2003, he was appointed Archbishop of the Military Ordinariate of Italy. He described his appointment as "totally unexpected" and that he accepted it "with surprise and some trepidation. First of all because the military world was totally unknown to me, and then because it was a matter of an extensive diocese, covering the whole country and even beyond, with our soldiers on missions to foreign countries".[1]

Styles of Angelo Bagnasco
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal
See	Genoa

Following the resignation of Tarcisio Bertone, Bagnasco was appointed Archbishop of Genoa on 29 August 2006. He was installed on the following 24 September. He defended Pope Benedict XVI in the Regensburg controversy.

On 7 March 2007, Benedict XVI selected Bagnasco to succeed Camillo 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."[3]

On 27 June 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.[4] Two days after this meeting, on 29 June, he and forty-five others were invested with the pallium, a woolen vestment reserved for metropolitan bishops, by Benedict in St. Peter's Basilica.

On 17 October 2007 Pope Benedict announced that Bagnasco would be created cardinal in a consistory on 24 November. He was created Cardinal-Priest of Gran Madre di Dio. On 12 June 2008, Benedict appointed him to the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.[5]

Also in 2008 Bagnasco was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to the Congregation for Bishops,[5] but he was named a member when Pope Francis overhauled the membership of that Congregation in 2013.[6]

Bagnasco took part in the papal conclave of 2013 that elected Pope Francis, and was seen as a possible contender (papabili) for the papacy by some media sources.[7][8]

In February 2018, Pope Francis extended Bagnasco's tenure in Genoa for two years beyond the normal retirement age of 75.[9] On 8 May 2020, Pope Francis accepted Bagnasco's resignation as Archbishop of Genoa and named Marco Tasca OFM Conv to succeed him.[10]

• "Bagnasco Card. Angelo". Holy See Press Office. Archived from the original on 4 September 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
• Angelo Bagnasco at Catholic-pages