Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, former president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, has described the prevention of Pope Benedict XVI from speaking at Sapienza University of Rome in January 2008 as a “disgrace” and an act of “intellectual narrow-mindedness and ideological intolerance”, as Pope Leo XIV prepares to address students and academics at the same institution on May 14.
In an interview published on May 13 in il Giornale, Cardinal Bagnasco reflected on the forthcoming papal visit to the Aula Magna of Rome’s ancient university, consistently ranked as one of Italy’s best and most prestigious, while recalling the events that led to the cancellation of Benedict XVI’s planned participation in the academic inauguration 18 years ago. The cardinal, who led the Italian Episcopal Conference from 2007 to 2017, rejected the climate of protest that forced the Holy See to withdraw Benedict’s appearance.
