The Italian Episcopal Conference ( it, Conferenza Episcopale Italiana) or CEI is the

episcopal conference An episcopal conference, sometimes called a conference of bishops, is an official assembly of the bishops of the Catholic Church in a given territory. Episcopal conferences have long existed as informal entities. The first assembly of bishops to ...

of the Italian

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

s of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, the official assembly of the bishops in Italy. The conference was founded in 1971 and carries out certain tasks and has the authority to set the liturgical norms for the

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different element ...

. Episcopal conferences receive their authority under universal law or particular mandates. Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti was appointed its president by

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

in 2017. It is the only episcopal conference for which the pope appoints the president and secretary-general. In almost all other conferences the president is elected, while the secretary-general is elected in all others. At the beginning of his papacy in 2013, Pope Francis considered having the CEI membership elect its own president and secretary-general, a proposal that was once considered and abandoned by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

. In 2017, adopting a new procedure, the CEI members elected three candidates for president and submitted them to the pope, who was free to choose one of them or someone else. Pope Francis repeatedly urged the CEI bishops to organize a national synod as discussed at their conference in Florence in 2015, first through surrogates and then himself inviting them to undertake a synod, eventually telling them in January 2021 that it was their duty and the time had come. The conference leadership submitted their synod proposal to him a month later. A

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

version of the Bible in Italian is published by the Conferenza Episcopale Italiana. The conference established Italy's first national day of prayer for survivors of clerical sexual abuse on 18 November 2021.

Leadership

;Presidents * Ildefonso Schuster (1952–1953) * Adeodato Giovanni Piazza (1953–1954) *

Maurilio Fossati Maurilio Fossati, O.SS.G.C.N., (24 May 1876 – 30 March 1965) was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Turin from 1930 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1933. Biography Born in Ar ...

(1954–1958) * Giuseppe Siri (1959–1965) *A temporary committee of cardinals with collective presidency:

Giovanni Colombo Giovanni Colombo (6 December 1902 – 20 May 1992) was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Milan from 1963 to 1979 and was elevated to the rank of cardinal in 1965. Biography Early life and priesthood G ...

, Ermenegildo Florit, Giovanni Urbani (1965–1966) *Giovanni Urbani (1966–1969) *

Antonio Poma Antonio Poma (12 June 1910 – 24 September 1985) was an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Bologna from 1968 to 1983, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1969. Biography Poma was born in Villanterio, and s ...

(1969–1979) *

Anastasio Ballestrero Anastasio Alberto Ballestrero (3 October 1913 – 21 June 1998) - in religious Anastasio del Santissimo Rosario - was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal and professed member from the Discalced Carmelites who served as the Archbishop of Turi ...

(1979–1985) * Ugo Poletti (1985–1991) * Camillo Ruini (1991–2007) *

Angelo Bagnasco Angelo Bagnasco (; born 14 January 1943) is an Italian Cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was Archbishop of Genoa from 2006 to 2020. He was President of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) from 2007 to 2017 and was elevated to the rank ...

(2007–2017) * Gualtiero Bassetti (2017 – 2022) * Matteo Zuppi (24 May 2022 - present) ;Secretaries-General The official that deals with the day-to-day affairs of the Conference is the secretary-general. * Camillo Ruini (28 June 1986 – 7 March 1991) * Dionigi Tettamanzi (14 March 1991 – 20 April 1995) * Ennio Antonelli (26 May 1995 – 5 April 2001) * Giuseppe Betori (5 April 2001 – 8 September 2008) * Mariano Crociata (25 September 2008 – 19 November 2013) * Nunzio Galantino (30 December 2013 – 26 June 2018) * Stefano Russo (28 September 2018 – 5 July 2022) * Giuseppe Baturi (5 July 2022 – present)

Notes

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Christian organizations established in 1971 Catholic Church in Italy

Leadership

See also

Notes

References

External links