Free Republic

ROME, MAY 27, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The president of Italy's episcopal conference says the two most important problems facing the nation are the "demographic winter" and unemployment. Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, archbishop of Genoa, said this Tuesday when he opened the conference's plenary assembly. He warned about a "slow demographic suicide to which Italy is headed." More than 50% of Italian families today do not have children and among those that do, almost half have only one child, the rest have two. Only 5.1% of families have three or more children. "Because of this, an urgent policy is needed that is oriented to...

VATICAN CITY: A bullet sent to the office of Genoa's archbishop is the latest threatening message for the prelate, who is leading a campaign against same-sex unions, Vatican Radio said Sunday. The radio report said that the bullet arrived on Friday at the office of Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco, who was recently elected to head the politically-influential Italian Bishops Conference. It quoted a Genoa newspaper as reporting that also inside the envelope was a photo of the archbishop, with a swastika cut into the photo.

Vatican City (dpa) - Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday appointed a new head of the Italian Bishops' Conference as the Vatican and Romano Prodi's government engaged in raging debates over same-sex couples, artificial insemination and terminally ill patients' right to die. In a statement, the Vatican said Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco of Genoa would replace Cardinal Camillo Ruini as the conference's president. Seventy-six-year-old Ruini had headed the conference for the past 16 years and was seen in Italy as the most influential Church figure after the pope. A conservative, Ruini was active in the media and played a fundamental role in...