Daniel IbanezCardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, (L) listens while Pope Francis addressed bishops from 19 Mediterranean countries on the final day of a meeting entitled “Mediterranean frontier of peace” in Bari, Italy, Jan. 22, 2020.
The five-year plan for the Italian Church is seen as a long-held wish to build on a 1976 national conference that aimed to give the laity a greater voice.