promoted pilgrimages to Rome. Ruini was also a member of the Congregation for Bishops, the Pontifical Council for the Laity, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, and the Council of Cardinals for the Study of Organizational and Economic Affairs of the Holy See. Ruini was one of the cardinal electors who participated in the 2005 papal conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI. On 17 March 2010 the Vatican formed a commission to look into the phenomenon of Medjugorje, Bosnia-Herzegovina, where six young people have said they have had visions of Mary since the early 1980s. Ruini was its president. In January 2014 the commission submitted its findings to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Ruini was instrumental in the production of a documentary film of the life of Pope John Paul II. Politics Ruini was seen as a social and political conservative, close to the positions of Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI. He was very active in the mass media and was the strongest voice of the Church against the spring 2005 referendum for the liberalization of Italy's legal restrictions on artificial insemination. He commented upon the issue of the 1999 French Pacte civil de solidarité for unmarried couples of the same or opposite sex. In 2007 a bill was proposed in the Italian Senate for a law on civil unions. The bishops conference opposed this proposal. Retirement On 7 March 2007, Pope Benedict XVI named Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco to succeed Ruini as President of the Italian Episcopal Conference. His resignation from his other positions was accepted by Pope Benedict XVI on 27 June 2008. As of 21 June 2013 Cardinal Ruini was serving as the President of the Scientific Committee of the Ratzinger Foundation. References External links 1931 births Living people People from Sassuolo 20th-century Italian cardinals Cardinal Vicars Vatican City people 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops Almo Collegio Capranica alumni 21st-century Italian Roman Catholic bishops Cardinals created by Pope John Paul II Pontifical Gregorian University alumni 21st-century Italian cardinals