Massimo Faggioli

Not to be confused with Massimo Fagioli.

Massimo Faggioli is an Italian academic, Church historian, professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University, columnist for La Croix International , and contributing writer to Commonweal . ^{[1] [2]}

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. ^[3] 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. ^{[4] [5] [6]}

Career

He 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 in 2002. ^[7]

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. ^[8]

His Annual Cardinal Joseph Bernardin Lecture was given at the University of South Carolina on 7 October 2013 and published in America on 24 February 2014 issue, focussing on the relationship between Catholics and politics. ^[9]

Since November 2014 he has been columnist for La Croix International (formerly Global Pulse Magazine), and since 2016 for Commonweal magazine. ^[10] 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 .

He 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 with Bryan Froehle of the series "Studies in Global Catholicism" for Brill Publishers (first volume in 2024). ^[11]

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. ^[12]
• 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

1. "Our Staff". Commonweal Magazine. Commonweal. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
2. College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Theology and Religious Studies. "About the Department/Faculty and Staff/Bio Detail". Villanova University. Villanova University. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
3. Winterer, Jim. "Massimo Faggioli: From the Vatican Secret Archives to St. Thomas Classrooms". University of St. Thomas Newsroom. University of St. Thomas. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
4. "Professor Massimo Faggioli". BBI-- The Australian Institute of Theological Education. Broken Bay Institute -- The Australian Institute for Theological Education. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
5. News and Events, General Interest (31 August 2017). "Massimo Faggioli appointed new Conjoint Professor at BBI". Broken Bay Institute -- The Australian Institute for Theological Education. BBI -- The Australian Institute for Theological Education. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
6. The Record (7 September 2017). "NATIONAL – BBI appoints internationally recognised expert on Vatican II – Massimo Faggioli". Catholic Archdiocese of Perth. The Record. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
7. Award Recipients for Theological Excellence. "Massimo Faggioli -- 2019". Yves Congar Award Series. Barry University. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
8. "Vatican II Studies Mission, Annual Meeting and Call for Papers". Religious Studies News. American Academy of Religion. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
9. "A View From Abroad: The shrinking common ground in the American church". America . 11 February 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
10. "Editors". La Croix International . Retrieved 30 May 2019.
11. "Studies in Global Catholicism". De Gruyter Brill. 2 October 2024. Retrieved 13 June 2025.
12. "Massimo Faggioli receives "Yves Congar Award for Theological Excellence -- 2019" at Barry University in Miami, Florida". Barry University Media SIte. Barry University. Retrieved 26 February 2019.

External links

• https://dornsife.usc.edu/iacs/affiliatedscholars/