Massimo Faggioli, PhD
Professor of Theology and Religious Studies | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences | Villanova University
Villanova, PA, UNITED STATES
Massimo Faggioli, PhD, is an expert on the history and administrative inner workings of the Catholic Church and of the papacy.
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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)
2023 "Chaire Francqui," Université Catholique de Louvain (professional)
Awarded by the Francqui Foundation (Belgium) for the fall semester.
2022 Excellence in Publishing Award, Association of Catholic Publishers (professional)
Awarded first place in the "Theology" category for the book "Joe Biden and Catholicism in the United States."
2022 Catholic Media Association Award (professional)
Awarded "Best Coverage: Religious Liberty Issues" for the article "What Joe Biden (and All American Catholics) Owe Jesuit John Courtney Murray," published in America Magazine.
2021 Catholic Media Association Award (professional)
Earned first place in the "Pope Francis" category for the book "The Liminal Papacy of Pope Francis."
2019 Yves Congar Award for Theological Excellence, Barry University (professional)
Awarded in recognition of contributions embodying the spirit of Cardinal Yves Congar, OP—through working, writing and teaching in light of the tradition while moving that tradition forward to meeting the challenges of today.
2018 Catholic Press Association Award (professional)
Earned third place for the book "Catholicism and Citizenship: Political Cultures of the Church in the Twenty-First Century" in the "Faithful Citizenship/Religious Freedom" category.
Honorary Doctor of Theology Degree, Honoris Causa, Sacred Heart University (professional)
Received an honorary Doctor of Theology degree, honoris causa, during Sacred Heart University's Special Academic Convocation.
Jerome Award, The Catholic Library Association (professional)
Awarded in recognition of outstanding contributions and commitment to excellence in scholarship which embody the ideals of the Catholic Library Association.
2015 Excellence in Publishing Award, Association of Catholic Publishers (professional)
Awarded first place ex aequo in the "General Interest" category for the book "Sorting Out Catholicism: Brief History of the New Ecclesial Movements."
Links (6)
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
2025-02-25
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
2025-02-11
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
2025-01-06
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
2024-12-05
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
2024-10-25
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
2024-10-20
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
2024-07-07
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
2023-10-04
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
2019-07-18
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
2019-02-02
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
2018-09-23
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
2018-08-16
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."
Research Grants (2)
Faculty Development Center
University of St. Thomas
2014-2015 Research on the history of the Roman Curia.
Faculty Development Center
University of St. Thomas
2012-2013 Articles on the reform of the Roman Curia.
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 AgendaMassimo Faggioli
2017
The Liturgical Reform and the "Political" Message of Vatican II in the Age of a Privatized and Libertarian Culture
WorshipMassimo Faggioli
2016
The 1928 Presidential Campaign: Toward a Transatlantic and Institutional Approach to Catholic Histories
American Catholic StudiesMassimo Faggioli
2015
The New Elites of Italian Catholicism: 1968 and the New Catholic Movements
The Catholic Historical ReviewMassimo Faggioli
2012
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