The Papacy from John XXIII to Francis: Ancient Roots and Modern Branches

Thursday, Apr. 11, 2024 • 7:30-9 a.m.
F.K. Bemis International Center | Hendrickson Dining Room
St. Norbert College

Watch the recording.

Massimo Faggioli, Ph.D.
Dr. Massimo Faggioli,professor in the department of theology and religious studies at Villanova University, received his Ph.D. in Religious History from the University of Turin in 2002 with a thesis on the history of the appointment of bishops after the Council of Trent. He later continued his studies on the Second Vatican Council at the renowned institute of “Giovanni XXIII" for Religious Studies in Bologna, Italy. From Italy he traveled first to Boston where he was visiting fellow at the Jesuit Institute at Boston College from 2008-2009 before moving to the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota in 2009 where he remained teaching until 2016.

Massimo's books and articles have been widely published in eight languages. His latest books in English are Catholicism and Citizenship: Political Cultures of the Church in the Twenty-First Century (Liturgical Press 2017), The Liminal Papacy of Pope Francis. Moving Toward Global Catholicity (Orbis Books, 2020), and Joe Biden and Catholicism in the United States (Bayard 2021). With Catherine Clifford he is the co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Vatican II (Oxford University Press, 2023) and he is under contract with Oxford University Press for a book on the history of the Roman Curia.

Massimo Faggioli is a young, bright, articulate, theologian of the new generation of Catholic intellectuals who is making a very significant contribution to theology, ecclesiology and church history in the contemporary Church. 

About the Lecture
Dr. Faggioli, in the third and final offering of this series, explored the many parallels in the ways St. John XXIII and Pope Francis have changed and updated the papacy, but also interesting differences. This lecture explored their common roots, but also focused on how the unfolding of Pope Francis’ pontificate casts a new light on the one of St. John XXIII.

Pilgrim Lectures are free and open to the public; but as a breakfast lecture, it does require advanced registration.