(http://www.stthomas.edu/news)

! NOTICES " Please Remember Sarah …

Nominations and Applicat…

Please Pray for the Health…

Undergrads: Officially Wit…

Campus Community Invite…

McDermott Appointed Int…

#

Massimo Faggioli: From the Vatican SecretArchives to St. Thomas Classrooms$ J im Winterer '71 : Photos by Mark Brown(http://www.stthomas.edu/news/author/jcwinterer/)

% February 6, 2015

How does an assistant professor oftheology at the University of St.Thomas become the go-to quote on allthings Vatican in The New York Times,The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Sun-Times and Tribune, National CatholicReporter, The Washington Post, andreligious and mainstream newspapersin Italy, France, Germany, Great Britain,Canada, Brazil and Argentina?

Over the past two years, those aresome of the publications, along withradio and television stations here andabroad, that have turned to Dr. Massi-mo Faggioli for help in understandingwhat’s going on in the Catholic Church,especially when it comes to events sur-rounding the resignation of PopeBenedict XVI and the election and ear-ly papal career of Pope Francis.

It was an unexpected turn of eventsfor the 44-year-old theologian, politicalscientist and church historian; Faggiolirarely had been interviewed by anyone

about anything prior to Pope Bene-dict’s unusual resignation in early2013. But by the end of that year hehad given 70 interviews, and was ontrack to give at least that many in2014.

This brief anecdote offers some insightinto how he has become a trusted re-source for reporters covering the greatchanges afoot in the Catholic Church:Two years ago a Twin Cities newspaperreporter, working on an article aboutthe papal transition, called a prom-inent theologian at an East Coast uni-versity for an interview. “You don’tneed to speak to me,” the theologiantold the Minnesota reporter. “You haveone of the best papal experts you’llfind anywhere right in your own back-yard. His name is Massimo Faggioliand you should call him.”

Faggioli’s knowledge of church historyruns deep and was hard won. His the-ological apprenticeship included morethan a decade of pouring over histori-cal documents – often for 70 hours aweek – in some of Europe’s greatestarchives.

A native of the northern Italy city ofFerrara, Faggioli is the son of a second-generation physician and an artistmother. By the time he graduatedfrom high school in 1989, he had stud-ied two years of English and five eachof Latin and Greek. “Those were veryhard for a 13-year-old,” he recalled,“but by the end we were reading theclassics in their original languages.”

As a teenager, he was given the oppor-tunity “to breathe in the last twodecades of the Cold War in Europe,”including the fall of the Berlin Wall,and traveled throughout northern,central and eastern Europe. His familyoften spent summers in France, wherehe picked up his fifth language,French.

He attended public schools (therearen’t many Catholic schools in Italy,he says, and the ones they have aren’tconsidered top notch). While hisgrades were fine, he admits: “I wasn’tone of the best students in all sub-jects. I did well in classes I was inter-ested in, but that didn’t include math.”He enjoyed soccer, tennis, basketballand handball, and at 14 he was sus-pended for one day from school for anincident that involved, as he put it, “aballoon with water.”

Faggioli credits his early interest in the-ology, in part, to the Boy Scouts pro-gram in Italy. “Scouting in Italy is differ-ent than in the United States,” he ex-plained. “In Italy it is more focused onpersonal development and spiritualformation and not as much on out-door-type skills. In 1989 I was respon-sible for leading a Boy Scout faith-for-mation program, and I thought Ishould learn more about it.”

During his undergraduate years, Faggi-oli continued to live at home in Ferrarawhile he studied political science (andhis sixth language, Spanish) at the Uni-versity of Bologna. “My hometown issomething like the Twin Cities, be-cause it mostly is flat and has a largeriver. But unlike Minnesota, there youare surrounded everywhere by manyancient and historic structures. TheUniversity of Bologna was founded in1088 and I don’t know how oldmy classrooms were, but they werevery old and not fancy at all. It’s notlike St. Thomas, and sometimes theclassrooms could be quite cold.”

While the University ofBologna doesn’t have some of theamenities found on the St. Thomascampus, public education in Italy isfree, even at the great universities.“And if you are accepted into a doctor-al program, you don’t pay tuition, butinstead receive a stipend. A doctoral

student can focus entirely on research.It was a great gift. I appreciated it verymuch,” he said.

In addition to his coursework in politi-cal science, Faggioli also took classesfrom a scholar who would become animportant mentor, Giuseppe Alberigo,director of the Bologna-based JohnXXIII Foundation for Religious Studies.

After graduating from the University ofBologna in 1994, Faggioli spent a yearin the Italian military, and in 1996 wasaccepted at the John XXIII Foundation.Regarded as Europe’s leading schoolfor training church historians, it wouldbe his second home for the next 12years.

During his tenure there he was a Ph.D.student of religious history, a part-timeinstructor, archival researcher, andsomething of an apprentice to many ofItaly’s and Europe’s most respectedtheologians. It’s also where he learnedGerman, his seventh language andone critical for studying many churchdocuments.

“It was a very tough school, very selec-tive,” he recalled. “We studied six daysa week, sometimes seven days a week,for many hours every day, and manyof my fellow students did not make itall the way through. It was a real privi-lege to be there. We had classes, gath-ered in seminars, wrote and ex-changed papers, and we got to visitand exchange ideas daily with ourmentors and professors. It was veryhierarchical but at the same time verycollegial.”

It was during those years that the JohnXXIII Foundation organized and pub-lished one of the definitive histories ofthe Second Vatican Council, a five-vol-ume set published in seven languagesbetween 1996 and 2001. “I was just a

young scholar then, but I did what youmight call backstage work on thebooks,” Faggioli said.

“It was fascinating but very challengingwork. The history of Vatican II was ahuge effort, and I was privileged towork with some of the best theolo-gians and meet with many churchleaders, even the pope.”

When you combine his research forthe foundation’s Vatican II historyproject, research on the Council ofTrent for his 2002 Ph.D. from the Uni-versity of Turin, and later research forhis journal articles and books, Faggiolispent a lot of time in the archives ofEurope. A lot of time.

He became a fixture at the archives ofthe German Foreign Ministry in Berlin,the archives of the Catholic Universityin Leuven in Belgium, the Vatican Li-brary, the Historical Archives of theHoly Office in the Vatican and especial-ly the Vatican Secret Archives.

The Secret Archives, once the privatearchives of the popes, aren’t really se-cret in the regular sense of the word,but gaining access to them isn’t easy.“You need to have letters of recom-mendation from scholars already well-known to the Secret Archives officials,”Faggioli explained. “And you have totell them exactly what it is that youwant to research, and why. They don’tjust let you go in there and wanderaround. And when you are accepted,they give you a badge and you have togo through three checkpoints to getinside. Usually only about 30 scholarsare in the Secret Archives at any onetime.

“When you first go to an archive it canseem overwhelming, like a maze, butsoon you start finding your way. TheSecret Archives, where some of thechurch’s most important documentsare kept, is well-organized but still, no

one can tell you exactly where to findthe materials you are looking for. It isup to you and you must be very fo-cused.”

Some archives, but not all, will let youmake photocopies or take pho-tographs of the documents. The SecretArchives allows neither. “There,” hesaid, “you must copy the material withpen and paper, although now they al-low you to copy material by typing itinto laptops.

“For scholars, the archives are trea-sures. If you want the whole picture,you must go there. They also are agreat place to exchange ideas with thecommunity of scholars. We even havea Facebook page, called the VaticanSecret Archive Scholars. It’s a greatway to exchange information and gaininsight into current events.”

In addition to the host of newspaperand journal articles he has publishedin recent years, especially in Italy andthe United States, Faggioli has writtenseveral books that have been pub-lished in English, Spanish, German andPortuguese, including A Brief History ofthe New Ecclesial Movements; Vatican II:The Battle for Meaning; True Reform:Liturgy and Ecclesiology in SacrosanctumConcillium; and the soon-to-be-pub-lished Pope Francis: Tradition in Transi-tion.

During his years at the John xxIII Foun-dation, he taught as an adjunct at theUniversity of Bologna, the nearby Uni-versity of Modena-Reggio Emilia andthe University of Bolzano near theAustrian border. He also was a re-search fellow at Laval University inQuebec and later at Boston College. Itwas there, in 2008, that a colleaguetold him about an opening posted bythe University of St. Thomas for achurch-history professor.

“He said St. Thomas was a very gooduniversity and this would be an impor-tant opportunity. I should look into it,”he recalled. “It was perfect for me andI feel very lucky to be here. I like St.Thomas very much.”

Dr. Bernard Brady, chair of the St.Thomas Theology Department, re-members when they interviewed Fag-gioli for what would become his firstfull-time teaching position. “Massimoblew us away with his preparation,”Brady said. “He came in with full syllabifor the courses he would teach. I can’tbelieve how well he has fit in.”

At St. Thomas he teaches an introduc-tory theology course as well as cour-ses on American Catholicism, VaticanII, the church and politics, and an ec-clesiology course for School of Divinityseminarians. He also co-leads “Theolo-gy 101 in Rome,” a January Term trip toRome and the Vatican that includes avisit to the Secret Archives and the U.S.Embassy to the Holy See.

Faggioli recently has been named di-rector of the new Institute for Catholi-cism and Citizenship that will belaunched this spring with supportfrom St. Thomas and Harry McNeelyJr., now in his 46th year of service onthe St. Thomas Board of Trustees.

The institute will be housed in St.Thomas’ Theology Department andCollege of Arts and Sciences(http://www.stthomas.edu/artsand-sciences). Its mission is to “promotecivil discourse, faithful citizenship andthe common good by fostering theo-logical insight and interdisciplinary in-quiry into economic, political and so-cial issues.”

“The new institute is an exciting oppor-tunity and a perfect fit for St. Thomas’mission to ‘educate students to bemorally responsible leaders who thinkcritically, act wisely and work skillfully,’”

Faggioli said. “I’m very grateful for thesupport from my department, DeanTerry Langan, President Julie Sullivanand Harry McNeely.”

In addition to teaching and writing,Faggioli sees working with reporters aspart of the job of a church historian.“And yes, at first being interviewedwas a little scary. It is difficult to besimple but accurate at the same time.Sometimes that is the hardest part.

“As I tell my students, it is good tostudy theology because it helps you tounderstand world events. And to un-derstand what is happening today, youalso need to understand the history.”

Two especially memorable events forhim have involved Pope Francis. Faggi-oli was doing a live interview on thephone with Italian public radio onMarch 13, 2013, at the moment Fran-cis was elected. “The station hadsomeone inside the Vatican, whofound out Francis was chosen before itwas announced to the world. So dur-ing the interview, we knew just a littlesooner than anyone else. It was veryexciting.”

The second came in September 2013when the Jesuit magazine Americaasked Faggioli and his wife, Dr. SarahChristopher Faggioli,to be part of afive-member team that would trans-late a groundbreaking, 12,000-word in-terview with Pope Francis.

“I think the Jesuits asked us becausethey knew we were following the popeclosely, and had the language skills

and also the context to provide a goodtranslation from Italian to English. Wehad to work fast, and we also had tokeep the interview a secret. We couldnot say anything about it until it waspublished.

“It was the pope’s manifesto and a re-markable interview,” Faggioli said. “Nopope had ever spoken about himselflike that. It was the first concrete evi-dence that something new and impor-tant was happening in the CatholicChurch.”

Sarah is from the United States andteaches Italian in St. Thomas’ Depart-ment of Modern and Classical Lan-guages. They met in Italy while shewas working on her doctorate in Ital-ian literature, which she holds fromthe University of Chicago. In additionto their careers, Sarah and Massimoare busy raising 3-year-old Laura andan infant son, Gabriel.

“I speak Italian to them at home, andSarah speaks to them in both lan-guages, so they will know two lan-guages, and who knows how manymore later,” Faggioli said. The familyattends the St. Louis King of FranceCatholic Church in downtown St. Paul,which was close to where the couplefirst lived when they arrived in Min-nesota. After moving to a home insouth Minneapolis, they’ve continuedto be part of the parish.

Do they have any favorite Italianrestaurants in the Twin Cities? “Yes, welike Punch Neapolitan Pizza. It is verygood … like we have in Italy.”

Read more from St. Thomas maga-zine (http://www.stthomas.e-du/news/category/publications/st-thomas-magazine/).

Related

(http://www.stthomas.edu/news/theologian-author-composer-joncas-artist-residence/)

Theologian, Author andComposer Father JanMichael Joncas NamedArtist-in-Residence(http://www.stthomas.edu/news/theologian-author-composer-joncas-artist-residence/)

(http://www.stthomas.edu/news/great-thinkers-of-history-are-lifelong-companions-for-dr-erika-kidd/)

Great Thinkers ofHistory Are LifelongCompanions for Dr.Erika Kidd(http://www.stthomas.edu/news/great-thinkers-of-history-are-lifelong-companions-for-dr-erika-kidd/)

(http://www.stthomas.edu/news/media-tap-ust-seminary-professors-for-help-in-covering-the-vatican/)

Media Tap UST,Seminary Professors forHelp in Covering theVatican(http://www.stthomas.edu/news/media-tap-ust-seminary-professors-for-help-in-covering-the-vatican/)

Name* Email*

M E T A

About the Newsroom

2

TweetTweet 8StumbleUpon

L E A V E A R E P L Y

Your email address will not be pub-lished.

Website

Comment

SUBMIT

(http://www.stthomas.edu/news/poised-comes-next/)

Poised For What ComesNext(http://www.stthomas.edu/news/poised-comes-next/)

SHARE ON:

163LikeLike ()

© 2015 University of St. Thomas · Minnesota2115 Summit Avenue · Saint Paul, Minnesota 55105 · USA1-651-962-5000 · webmaster@stthomas.edu (mailto:webmaster@stthomas.edu)

Alumni (http://www.stthomas.edu/alumni/) · Maps & Directions (http://www.stthomas.edu/campusmaps/) ·Giving (http://www.stthomas.edu/openingdoors/)

Jobs at UST (http://www.stthomas.edu/jobsatust) · EEO Statement (http://www.stthomas.edu/policies/general/equalemployment.html) ·Directories (http://www.stthomas.edu/directories/)

Social Media (http://www.stthomas.edu/socialmedia/)

(http://www.stthomas.edu/news/about-the-newsroom/)

Subscribe(http://www.stthomas.edu/news/subscribe/)

Email Archive(http://www.stthomas.edu/news/email-archive/)

For the Media(http://www.stthomas.edu/news/for-the-media/)

Submit News(http://www.stthomas.edu/news/submit-news/)

Log In(http://www.stthomas.edu/news/wp-admin)

A R C H I V E S

Select Month

C O N N E C T

(https://twitter.com/uofstthomasmn)(https://www.facebook.com/uofstthomasmn)(http://www.youtube.com/universityofstthomas)