Massimo Faggioli, PhD
Professor of Theology and Religious Studies | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Massimo Faggioli, PhD, is an expert on the history and administrative inner workings of the Catholic Church and of the papacy.
Media
Dr. Faggioli: Pope Francis and the Unfolding of Vatican II
Dr. Massimo Fagioli examines "Pope Francis an the Unfolding of Vatican II in Today's Church" in his June 2016 presentation to the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests.
Dr. Faggioli: The Liturgical Reform of Vatican II and the Common Good
Massimo Faggioli, Ph.D.is an assistant professor in the Theology Department of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul (Minnesota). Among his publications: A brief history of the "new Catholic movements" (Breve storia dei movimenti cattolici, 2008; Spanish translation 2011, English translation forthcoming); Vatican II: The Battle for Meaning (2012; Italian translation and Portuguese translation, 2013); True Reform. Liturgy and Ecclesiology in "Sacrosanctum Concilium" (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2012; Italian translation, 2013). Dr. Faggioli's talk is part of Creighton University's celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Legacy of Vatican II, Year Two. Presented on November 7, 2013.
Areas of Expertise (7)
- Pope Francis
- American Catholicism
- Church History
- Religion
- Catholicism and World/European Politics
- Historical Theology and Ecclesiology
- History of Christianity
Biography
Dr. Massimo Faggioli is a leading authority on the history and administrative inner workings of the Catholic Church, with specific expertise in the papacy, Vatican II, the Roman Curia, liturgical reform, new Catholic movements and Catholicism and global politics. Frequently featured in the national and international media, Dr. Faggioli can comment on a variety of theological, religious and Church-related issues, ranging from the historical to the contemporary.
Education (2)
- University of Turin: PhD
- Università di Bologna: MA
Select Accomplishments (9)
Affiliations (13)
- Contributing Writer, Commonweal Magazine
- Columnist, La Croix International
- Columnist, Huffington Post
- American Academy of Religion (AAR)
- American Catholic Historical Association (ACHA)
- American Catholic Historical Society (ACHS)
- American Historical Association (AHA)
- Catholic Theological Society of America (CTSA)
- Associazione Teologica Italiana (ATI)
- Società Italiana per la storia dell'età moderna (SISEM)
- Società Italiana per lo studio della storia contemporanea (SISSCO)
- Rete Ricercatori Archivio Segreto Vaticano (Ricercatori ASV)
- Staff Writer, Il Regno (Italy)
Select Media Appearances (12)
Pope Francis in a "Delicate Moment": Religious Expert
ABC News
2/25/2025
Massimo Faggioli, professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University, says the transparency about the pontiff's prolonged hospitalization is "quite unusual."
Pope Criticizes Trump's Deportation of Migrants as a Violation of Dignity
The New York Times
2/11/2025
Pope Francis on Tuesday harshly criticized President Trump's policy of mass deportations and urged Catholics to reject anti-immigrant narratives in an unusually direct attack... Experts said it amounted to a steep escalation in the temper of the relationship between the Vatican and the American administration. "It turns up the heat of the conflict," said Massimo Faggioli, a professor of theology at Villanova University.
Pope Francis Names Trump Critic McElroy as Washington's New Archbishop
Reuters
1/6/2025
Pope Francis on Monday named a Catholic cardinal who has criticized Donald Trump's political agenda as the new leader for the Catholic Church in Washington, D.C., days before Trump is set to be inaugurated... "It's a bold move," Massimo Faggioli, an Italian academic who has followed the Francis papacy closely, said of McElroy's appointment. Faggioli, a professor at Villanova University in Philadelphia, noted the announcement came on the fourth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by rioters who hoped to overturn Trump's 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.
Rome Needs a Small Miracle to Pull Off the Vatican's Jubilee
Financial Times
12/5/2024
After the first holy year proclaimed by Pope Boniface VIII in 1300, jubilees were initially held every half century, and from 1450 every 25 years, with occasional delays or "extraordinary" jubilees for special occasions. "It has become one of the main ways for the Vatican to remind Catholics that their eyes, minds or hearts should be oriented towards Rome," says Massimo Faggioli, a theology professor at Villanova University.
In the Vatican Movie "Conclave," Big Secrets Are Revealed. Here Are Three Real Life Papal Conclaves Marked by Controversy
Time Magazine
10/25/2024
While the film "Conclave" is fiction, there have been real life controversial papal conclaves throughout history... In the 1903 conclave, Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I vetoed the leading candidate, Cardinal Mariano Rampolla. "The emperor used the right of exclusion, or jus exclusivæ, to block Rampolla's election," Massimo Faggioli, a professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University, wrote in an email. "This right allowed certain Catholic monarchs to veto a candidate for the papacy."
Harris Goes to Church, Highlighting the Absence of Religion in the 2024 Campaign
NBC News Digital
10/20/2024
The U.S. has grown even more secular in the eight years since Obama left office, with a record 28% of adults now identifying as religiously unaffiliated... There's now less incentive for candidates to play up their religiosity—and even potential peril with irreligious voters, especially on the left—said Massimo Faggioli, a Villanova University theology professor who wrote a spiritual biography of Biden.
Will JD Vance's Religious Background Sway Catholic Voters? What Experts Say
USA Today
7/7/2024
Vance chose St. Augustine as his patron saint when he converted to Catholicism in 2019... He told [an] outlet he was affected by the theologian's fourth-century autobiographical work "Confessions," and that "The City of God," a fifth-century writing in response to the sack of Rome in 410, is "incredibly relevant now that I'm thinking about policy"... A certain interpretation of Augustine's writings can... be "very, very functional" to the modern GOP, according to Massimo Faggioli, a theology and religious studies professor at Villanova University.
Vatican Gathering Tackles Topics From Women in Ministry to LGBTQ+ Catholics
NPR
10/4/2023
The Vatican meeting will include both laity and clergy talking and listening... [and] about 10% of participants will be women. "Which by Catholic standards is a big improvement," says Massimo Faggioli, professor of Catholic theology at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. He says the inclusion of more people in the process of church discernment has been an important issue for Pope Francis, and the presence of women—with an official vote—is a salient example of that inclusion.
The Chaplain of the U.S. House "Cast Out All Spirits of Darkness" in His Chamber Prayer Amid Racism Fight
The Washington Post
7/18/2019
The chaplain of the House of Representatives said in his opening prayer Thursday that he would "cast out all spirits of darkness from this chamber," reflecting the dramatic moral terms in which many Americans see our political climate... "Right now, if people listen to Conroy, they don't dismiss him as a crank. They're like: 'Maybe he's getting something right,'" said Massimo Faggioli, a theology professor and church historian at Villanova University. "That's the difference. Twenty or 10 or five years ago, people would say: 'Oh, he just had a bad day.'"
Pope Francis Set to Make Historic Trip to Arabian Peninsula
NPR
2/2/2019
Pope Francis arrives in the United Arab Emirates tomorrow. He'll be the first pope to set foot on the Arabian Peninsula... Massimo Faggioli, professor of theology at Villanova University, says, over Skype, that a key aspect of the visit will be how Francis relates.
The Silent Popes: Why Francis and Benedict Won't Answer the Accusations Dividing Their Church
CNN
9/23/2018
After dismissing allegations against a bishop accused of cover-ups, the pope in April said he had made "serious mistakes in the assessment and perception" of Chile's abuse scandal... "He knows that he has made big mistakes on this, and he realizes that they were bad judgments, and now he wants to be cautious about not making the same mistakes," said Massimo Faggioli, a professor of church history at Villanova University in Philadelphia.
Vatican Expresses Sorrow, Calls for Accountability After Pennsylvania Report
The Wall Street Journal
8/16/2018
A Vatican spokesman on Thursday expressed "shame and sorrow" about the allegations of abuse by more than 300 Catholic clergymen in Pennsylvania over 70 years that were detailed in a grand jury report released Tuesday... Massimo Faggioli, a professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University, gave Pope Francis credit for doing "a number of things that his predecessors never did, like firing bishops. And Rome is no longer a safe haven for those who are accused. That's new."
Select Academic Articles (5)
Evangelii Gaudium as an Act of Reception of Vatican II
Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism: Evangelii Gaudium and the Papal Agenda
2017
The 1928 Presidential Campaign: Toward a Transatlantic and Institutional Approach to Catholic Histories
American Catholic Studies
2015
The New Elites of Italian Catholicism: 1968 and the New Catholic Movements
The Catholic Historical Review
2012
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