Italian bishops appear to have delivered a snub to Pope Francis by promoting a Vatican official who the Pope sacked months after the official authored a key document prohibiting liturgical blessings for same-sex couples.
Archbishop Giacomo Morandi, 58, was dismissed by the Holy Father soon after the then-known Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF; now called DDF), for which Morandi served as secretary, ruled in 2021 against the legitimacy of liturgical blessings for same-sex couples.
But on 15 January, Morandi was elected as the new leader of the Bishops’ Conference of Emilia-Romagna, a key northern region of Italy that centres on the city of Bologna.
