Catholicism and Citizenship: Political Cultures of the Church in the Twenty-First Century

"With this book, Massimo Faggioli cements his reputation as his generation's premier interpreter of the relationship between American Catholics and the Church in Rome. He is incisive, insightful, and unfailingly constructive in his observations."

Cathleen Kaveny, Libby Professor of Law and Theology, Boston College

"Massimo Faggioli is in the first rank of theologians to come of age since the Second Vatican Council and to study both the Council and the post-conciliar era. In this book he sets out from Gaudium et Spes, the Council's document on the church in the modern world, to spur Catholic ecclesiology toward a new engagement with a globalizing world in political crisis, an engagement in line with Pope Francis's vision of a missionary church of mercy. Catholicism and Citizenship displays the author's usual skill at analyzing conciliar and later documents and providing their historical context. He brings to this task a unique perspective and familiarity not only with Italian but European experience and theology. Sparks of insight and information fly from every chapter."

Peter Steinfels, Professor Emeritus, Fordham University, Former co-director of the Fordham Center on Religion and Culture

"In Catholicism and Citizenship, an accomplished historian of the Vatican II Church situates the novelty of Pope Francis's orientation—and the resistance it has provoked—on the complex, changing, and disturbing terrain of global politics and `the crisis of the nation state.' Francis envisions the Church as an engaged member of world society—missionary and prophetic, yet nonideological and inclusive. To those dismayed by public vitriol, worried about international politics, or doubtful that the Church can change the world, this book will bring new breadth of insight and encouraging seeds of hope."

Lisa Sowle Cahill, Boston College