The Role of Public Theologians Today

Massimo Faggioli's new book, Catholicism and Citizenship: Political Cultures of the Church in the Twenty-First Century, is based on a series of lectures and essays the Villanova professor began publishing and delivering during the 50th anniversary of Vatican II in 2015. According to Faggioli, while Vatican II has left a massive imprint on American Catholicism, its legacy as “an integral part of our political and social history” has been lost in the “political crisis” of the American church. Faggioli immigrated to America from Italy in 2007, and, he says, “this is the most American” of his books.