Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, (Left) 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.

Daniel Ibanez
Cardinal 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.