Mons. Angelo Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa and President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), has over the last few weeks been subjected to attacks and intimidation due to a distortion by some organs of the press of his thought on de facto unions, or unmarried couples. After defamatory posters appeared on the walls of the city and death threats, an envelope containing a bullet was recently sent to him. While the police forces are investigating the case, and the armed escort provided for the protection of Mons. Bagnasco has been reinforced, testimonials of solidarity and esteem continue to pour in. Pope Benedict XVI personally expressed his support and encouragement in a telephone call to the archbishop, while the President of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, gave his assurance that “Italy would not leave Monsignor Bagnasco defenceless” in a message sent to the Holy See’s Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone. Deep gratitude for these gestures was expressed in a statement “on behalf of the Italian episcopate” by Mons. Giuseppe Betori, general secretary of the CEI. Betori thanks in the first place the Holy Father who “with paternal affection has expressed his closeness to Mons. Bagnasco in a personal conversation which infused him with serenity and courage”. He then describes the message sent by the Head of State of “particular value, summarizing as it does the profound feeling of the Italian people”. Various expressions of solidarity have also been sent to the President of the CEI by the ecclesial community and by civil society. The messages of support speak among other things of a “false accusation orchestrated against” the archbishop “through a concerted campaign of disinformation abundantly spiced with old-fashioned anti-clericalism” and of a “crisis of freedom of thought, dialogue and respect for those who hold different views”. Meanwhile, preparations are being finalised for Family Day, a national rally due to be held in Rome on 12 May to reaffirm in public the value of the family based on marriage.
