Massimo Faggioli (born 1970) is an Italian academic, Church historian, professor of theology and religious studies at
Villanova University
Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Saint Thom ...
, columnist for ''
La Croix International'', and contributing writer to ''
Commonweal
Commonweal or common weal may refer to:
* Common good, what is shared and beneficial for members of a given community
* Common Weal, a Scottish think tank and advocacy group
* ''Commonweal'' (magazine), an American lay-Catholic-oriented magazin ...
''.
He was on the faculty at the
University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, Minnesota) from 2009 to 2016, where he was the founding director of the Institute for Catholicism and Citizenship. In 2017 and 2018 he was an adjunct professor at the Broken Bay Institute, part of the Australian Institute of Theological Education in
Sydney, Australia
Sydney is the capital city of the state of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about 80 km (50 mi) from the Pacific Ocean ...
.
Career
Massimo Faggioli worked in the John XXIII Foundation for Religious Studies in Bologna between 1996 and 2008 and received his Ph.D. from the
University of Turin
The University of Turin (Italian language, Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Torino'', UNITO) is a public university, public research university in the city of Turin, in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region of Italy. It is one of the List ...
in 2002.
Since 2016 he has been full professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University (Philadelphia). He was the founding director (2014–2015) of the Institute for Catholicism and Citizenship and on the faculty in the Department of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul (Minnesota) between 2009 and 2016. He writes for newspapers and journals on the Church, religion and politics, and gives public lectures on the Church and on Vatican II. Faggioli was the founding co-chair (2012–2017) of the study group "Vatican II Studies" for the
American Academy of Religion
The American Academy of Religion (AAR) is the world's largest association of scholarly method, scholars in the List of academic disciplines, field of religious studies and related topics. It is a nonprofit member association,
serving as a profess ...
.
His Annual Cardinal Joseph Bernardin Lecture was given at the
University of South Carolina
The University of South Carolina (USC, SC, or Carolina) is a Public university, public research university in Columbia, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1801 as South Carolina College, It is the flagship of the University of South Car ...
on 7 October 2013 and published in
''America'' on 24 February 2014 issue, focussing on the relationship between Catholics and politics.
Since November 2014 he has been columnist for
La Croix International (formerly Global Pulse Magazine), and since 2016 for
Commonweal
Commonweal or common weal may refer to:
* Common good, what is shared and beneficial for members of a given community
* Common Weal, a Scottish think tank and advocacy group
* ''Commonweal'' (magazine), an American lay-Catholic-oriented magazin ...
magazine. Since 2016 he is staff writer for the Italian Catholic magazine "Il Regno".
In 2018 he received from Sacred Heart University (Connecticut, USA) an honorary doctorate in theology.
In 2023 he was elected in the editorial board of ''
Concilium: International Journal of Theology''.
Faggioli is a member of the steering committee for the project “Vatican II: Event and Mandate” for a twelve-volume, intercontinental commentary of Vatican II.
He is
co-editor
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written language, written, Image editing, visual, Audio engineer, audible, or Film editing, cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing p ...
with Bryan Froehle of the series "Studies in Global Catholicism" for Brill Publishers (first volume in 2024).
Faggioli's research interests include
extreme conservatism
Ultraconservatism refers to extreme conservative views in politics or religious practice. In modern politics, ''ultraconservative'' usually refers to conservatives of the far-right on the political spectrum, comprising groups or individuals who a ...
within
American Catholicism as wells as
Integralism
In politics, integralism, integrationism or integrism () is an interpretation of Catholic social teaching that argues the principle that the Catholic faith should be the basis of public law and public policy within civil society, wherever the ...
.
Select publications
* ''Il vescovo e il concilio. Modello episcopale e aggiornamento al Vaticano II'', Il Mulino, Bologna 2005, 476 pp.
* ''Breve storia dei movimenti cattolici'', Carocci, Roma 2008, 146 pp. (Spanish translation: ''Historia y evolución de los movimientos católicos. De León XIII a Benedicto XVI'', Madrid: PPC Editorial, 2011, pp. 224)
* ''Vatican II: The Battle for Meaning'', New York/Mahwah, NJ, Paulist Press 2012, pp. 207 (Italian translation: ''Interpretare il Vaticano II. Storia di un dibattito'', Bologna, EDB, 2013, 160 pp.; Portuguese translation: ''Vaticano II. A luta pelo sentido'', translated by Jaime A. Clasen, São Paulo, Editora Paulinas Brasil, 2013, 216 pp.)
* ''True Reform. Liturgy and Ecclesiology in Sacrosanctum Concilium'', Collegeville MN, Liturgical Press 2012, pp. 188 (Italian translation: ''Vera riforma. Liturgia ed ecclesiologia nel Vaticano II'', Bologna, EDB, 2013, 192 pp.; German translation: ''Sacrosanctum Concilium. Der Schlüssel zum Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzil'', Freiburg i.B., Herder, 2015).
* ''Nello spirito del concilio. Movimenti ecclesiali e recezione del Vaticano II'', Cinisello B.: San Paolo, 2013, 160 pp.
* ''Papa Francesco e la “chiesa-mondo”'', Roma, Armando Editore, 2014, 96 pp.
* ''Pope John XXIII. The Medicine of Mercy'', Collegeville MN, Liturgical Press, 2014, 160 pp.
* ''Sorting Out Catholicism. Brief History of the New Ecclesial Movements'', Collegeville MN, Liturgical Press, 2014, 224 pp.
* ''Pope Francis. Tradition in Transition'', New York, Paulist Press, 2015, 104 pp.
* ''A Council for the Global Church. Receiving Vatican II in History'', Minneapolis, Fortress Press, 2015, 350 pp.
* ''The Legacy of Vatican II'', eds. Massimo Faggioli and Andrea Vicini SJ, New York, Paulist Press, 2015, 320 pp.
* ''The Rising Laity. Ecclesial Movements since Vatican II'', New York, Paulist Press, 2016, 176 pp.
* ''Catholicism and Citizenship. Political Cultures of the Church in the 21st Century'', Collegeville MN, Liturgical Press, 2017, 165 pp.
* ''Cattolicesimo, nazionalismo, cosmopolitismo. Chiesa, società e politica dal Vaticano II a papa Francesco'', Roma, Armando Editore, 2018, 176 pp.
* ''The Liminal Papacy of Pope Francis. Moving Toward Global Catholicity'', Maryknoll NY: Orbis Books, 2020, 210 pp. (translated also in Italian).
* ''Joe Biden e il cattolicesimo negli Stati Uniti'', Brescia: Morcelliana, 2021, 208 pp. (translated also in English and in French).
* ''The Oxford Handbook of Vatican II'', eds. Catherine Clifford and Massimo Faggioli, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023, 777 pp.
* ''Theology and Catholic Higher Education. Beyond Our Identity Crisis'', Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2024, 192 pp.
* (co-authored with Bryan Froehle) ''Global Catholicism: Between Disruption and Encounter'' (series Studies in Global Catholicism, 1) Leiden: Brill, 2024, XIII + 310 pp.
* ''Da Dio a Trump. Crisi cattolica e politica americana'', Brescia: Morcelliana, 2025, 240 pp.
Awards
*2017 “Jerome Award” of the Catholic Library Association, for outstanding contribution and commitment to excellence in scholarship.
*"Yves Congar Award for Theological Excellence" from Barry University in Miami, Florida on 24 January 2019.
*2023 recipient of the “Chaire Francqui” awarded by the Francqui Foundation (Belgium) for the Fall semester 2023 at the Université Catholique de Louvain (Louvain-la-Neuve)
References
External links
* https://dornsife.usc.edu/iacs/affiliatedscholars/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Faggioli, Massimo
1970 births
Living people
Commonweal (magazine) people
Italian Roman Catholics
Second Vatican Council
University of Bologna alumni