In 2008 he urged Catholics to be more active in the public square, taking on a more courageous and coherent presence, as Francis has often done.
"Catholics must bring the contribution of spiritual and ethical values into the public square," he said in an interview published in L'Osservatore Romano.
"The presence (in the public square) must be assumed by Catholics with greater persuasiveness and a greater capacity to respectfully explain our convictions, knowing that they come both from the Gospel and from a common understanding of the value of life," he added.
Catholics "do not want to impose a religious vision of society, but to propose universal values," he said, adding that "the most credible argument, of course is the witness of our own personal life."
Bagnasco has consistently taken his own words to heart. A year later, when Italian healthcare officials in 2009 approved the sale of the abortion drug RU-486, he urged doctors opposed to the drug to exercise their right to conscientious objection, calling for "an end to corruption and injustice."
More recently, in 2014 the cardinal responded to threats on the life of an anti-mafia priest, offering his support and calling for an end to corruption and injustice.
In May of this year, Bangasco came in swinging at the push for civil unions in Italy, throwing a firm punch at the bill approving civil unions which had just passed in the nation's parliament.
In a powerful speech ahead of the annual Plenary Assembly of the Italian Bishops' conference, he stressed that the law "certifies an equivalence" between civil unions and marriage, even "though the law affirms that civil unions and marriage are different things."
Such "differences are only tricks of terminology or juridical artifacts, which can be easily bypassed."
The cardinal said the topic of civil unions is of trivial interest to most, and that people "want the parliament to be committed" to tackling real issues, such as Italy's high unemployment rate and poverty.
"These are the real problems of the country, of the people. So, is not understandable why (the Italian Parliament) spent so much emphasis and energy on causes that do not tackle these issues, and merely respond to ideological schemes."
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When it comes to touchy subjects brought up more recently such as communion for the divorced and remarried, Bagnasco has been a strong opponent of the "Kasper Proposal," referring to German Cardinal Walter Kasper's push to allow access on a case by case basis, particularly in the lead-in to the 2014 Synod of Bishops on the Family.
However, long before Amoris Laetitia and the 2014-2015 Synod, Bagnasco was already speaking out on the issue, presenting theories as to how the Church could be more mother-like while still not allowing access to the Eucharist.
In June 2008, while presenting a book on the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Genoa, Bagnasco came out in strong opposition to the reception of communion for the divorced and remarried, saying it was "impossible" for couples in the state to receive the Sacrament.
The fact that these couples can't receive "does not depend on an external disposition but rather comes from the interior of the sacrament of the Eucharist itself, the sacrament of the perennial unity between the love of Christ and humanity," he said.
He pointed to the example of Catholics who are separated and who "suffer from this difficult situation, but nonetheless live in fidelity to the indissolubility of the sacrament and desire to meet and pray together, to exchange experiences and encourage one another."
This situation "is one of the ways in which the maternity of the Church is expressed," he added.