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Massimo Faggioli

@massimofaggioli.bsky.social

2.4K followers 860 following 890 posts

Professor in historical and contemporary ecclesiology, Loyola Institute RTPS at Trinity College Dublin. Gelateria Catholic. Views my own.

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Massimo Faggioli is an Italian academic, Church historian, professor of theology and religious studies at Villanova University, columnist for La Croix International, and contributing writer to Commonweal. .. more

History 38%

Political science 30%

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Reposted by Jacob T. Levy, Henry Jones, Massimo Faggioli

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 6h

thiel, man, what the fuck are you talking about

He describes the plot of Watchmen, a 1986 graphic novel involving superheroes grappling with moral questions about humanity against the backdrop of impending nuclear war:

The antihero Ozymandias, the antichrist-type figure, is sort of an early-modern person. He believes this will be a timeless and eternal solution – eternal world peace. Moore is sort of a late-modern. In early modernity, you have ideal solutions, ‘perfect’ solutions to calculus. In late modernity, things are sort of probabilistic. And at some point, he asks Dr Manhattan whether the world government is going to last. And he says that ‘nothing lasts forever.’ So you embrace the antichrist and it still doesn’t work.

Thiel later finds biblical meaning in the manga One Piece, discussing how he believes it represents a future where an antichrist-like one-world government has repressed science. He believes that the hero, Monkey D Luffy, represents a Christlike figure.

In One Piece, you are set in a fantasy world, again sort of an alternate earth, but it’s 800 years into the reign of this one-world state. Which, as the story unfolds, gradually gets darker and darker. You sort of realize, in my interpretation, who runs the world and it’s something like the antichrist. There’s Luffy, a pirate who wears a red straw hat, sort of like Christ’s crown of thorns. And then towards the end of the story, transforms into a figure who resembles Christ in Revelation.

Thiel, along with a researcher and writer at Thiel Capital, explored these ideas at greater length in an essay for the religious journal First Things earlier this month.

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Massimo Faggioli @massimofaggioli.bsky.social · 10h

come ho detto altrove (in questo libro), quella americana è una crisi religiosa e teologica non meno che politica e costituzionale

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Massimo Faggioli @massimofaggioli.bsky.social · 12h

RIP Diane Keaton

Reposted by Massimo Faggioli

Michele Somerville she/her @michelesomerville.bsky.social · 1d

Is this predatory billionaire, #PeterThiel, who co-opts & bastardized the language/ myth of Christian scripture to deploy it for his satisfying avarice, further entrenching autocracy, & savaging the earth & it’s resources, telling us HE is the #Antichrist ?
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Inside tech billionaire Peter Thiel’s off-the-record lectures about the antichrist

The political svengali and investor has been giving lectures on ‘an evil king or tyrant … who appears in the end times’

www.theguardian.com

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Massimo Faggioli @massimofaggioli.bsky.social · 2d

Trinity College Dublin cafeteria (the one near the business school)

Reposted by Massimo Faggioli

Christoph Strack @strackchristoph.bsky.social · 2d

Vorkonziliar…

Heute vor 70 Jahren wurde der Tübinger Theologe Peter Hünermann in Rom zum Priester geweiht. Er leistete viel, wie es hier heißt, „theologische Denkarbeit im Dienst der Reform des Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzils“. Ein wunderbarer Mensch.

Peter Hünermann feiert Weihejubiläum

Der emeritierte Tübinger Theologieprofessor wurde am 10. Oktober vor 70 Jahren in Rom zum Priester geweiht.

www.drs.de

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Reposted by Massimo Faggioli

Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 3d

Very promising Wikipedia overview I must say.

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Massimo Faggioli @massimofaggioli.bsky.social · 3d

The social teaching of the Catholic Church is the largest - or the last global organization - left to speak about the poor, and in this way, about their dignity, hope, liberation and aspirations.

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Reposted by Massimo Faggioli

Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 3d

Ross’s thoughtful interviews and discussions consistently cover an impressive range all the way from indulging the domination fantasies of theocrats to desperately pursuing quack Lyme disease cures.

INTERESTING TIMES WITH ROSS DOUTHAT
He Believes America Should Be a Theocracy. He Says His Influence Is Growing.

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Reposted by Joe R. Feagin, Patrick A. Jansen, Nicholas Birns , and 6 more Joe R. Feagin, Patrick A. Jansen, Nicholas Birns, Daniel W. Drezner, Alan Richardson, W. Andy Knight, Massimo Faggioli, Albin Wagener, Martin S. Flaherty

The Associated Press @apnews.com · 3d

Pope Leo XIV has blasted how wealthy people live in a “bubble of comfort and luxury” while the poor suffer. In his first teaching document Thursday, Leo confirms that he is in perfect lockstep with Pope Francis on matters of social injustice.

Pope Leo blasts economy that marginalizes poor while wealthy live in bubble of luxury

Pope Leo XIV has blasted how wealthy people live in a “bubble of comfort and luxury” while the poor suffer.

bit.ly

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Massimo Faggioli @massimofaggioli.bsky.social · 3d

the most interesting part of "Dilexit te" published by Pope Leo XIV today - for me, as a message to the debate on the role of Vatican II in the church today

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Reposted by Massimo Faggioli

Anne M. Carpenter @catholickungfu.bsky.social · 3d

Catholic integralist thinking is a good example of why I get cranky sometimes and think only theologians should “do” theology, and maybe not jurists and vice presidents. It’s a real discipline and not simply a series of facts.

Then I try to talk myself off the ledge and do my best to be helpful.

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Reposted by Massimo Faggioli

Joe Ferullo @joeferullo.bsky.social · 4d

El Paso bishop brings Pope Leo XIV desperate letters from migrants in crosshairs of US crackdown. "The pope needs to talk to Trump.”
#PopeLeo #Trump #immigration
www.ncronline.org/vatican/el-p...

El Paso bishop brings Pope Leo XIV desperate letters from migrants in crosshairs of US crackdown

The Texas bishop on the front lines of the U.S. immigration crackdown met Wednesday with Pope Leo XIV and brought him a packet of letters from immigrant families "terrorized" by fear that they and the...

www.ncronline.org

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Reposted by Massimo Faggioli

Commonweal @commonweal.bsky.social · 4d

TOMORROW: Join us as we host Matthew Sitman and Tara Isabella Burton in dialogue at the Burke Library at Union Theological Seminary!

RSVP here:
cwlmag.org/rootsdialogue

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Massimo Faggioli @massimofaggioli.bsky.social · 4d

on the other hand, around minute 42 what he says about abortion

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Massimo Faggioli @massimofaggioli.bsky.social · 4d

minutes 30 to 33, what Billy Graham says about racial reconciliation, Kingdom of God and theocracy
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoaU...

Firing Line with William F. Buckley Jr.: The Decline of Christianity

YouTube video by Hoover Institution Library & Archives

www.youtube.com

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Massimo Faggioli @massimofaggioli.bsky.social · 4d

it would be interesting to see Church historians and canon lawyers in America organize something about what the Catholic tradition says (since the 11th century more or less) about the limits to the power of the sovereign

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Massimo Faggioli @massimofaggioli.bsky.social · 4d

my interview with Edward Augustyn for "Tygodnik Powszechny", October 7, 2025
www.tygodnikpowszechny.pl/od-trumpa-do...

Od Trumpa do Boga. Jak odbić katolicyzm z rąk konserwatywnej prawicy

Massimo Faggioli, teolog: Gdy biskupi mówią to, co chcą usłyszeć politycy i ich wyborcy, mamy do czynienia z religijnym populizmem.

www.tygodnikpowszechny.pl

Massimo Faggioli @massimofaggioli.bsky.social · 5d

Gaza etc

Massimo Faggioli @massimofaggioli.bsky.social · 5d

figlio che recensisce il suo libro di religione a scuola:
"My religion book says 'God loves you' on almost every page. But I already know that!"

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Massimo Faggioli @massimofaggioli.bsky.social · 5d

lasciando Castel Gandolfo oggi, Leone XIV afferma che il cardinale Parolin "ha espresso molto bene le posizioni della Santa Sede" nell'intervista ai media vaticani.

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Reposted by Massimo Faggioli

Gloria Purvis @iamgloriapurvis.bsky.social · 5d

www.americamagazine.org/faith-and-re...

What are Black Catholics hearing when church leaders praise Charlie Kirk?

For many Black Catholics familiar with Charlie Kirk's full record, endorsements of his message by Catholic leaders can be devastating.

www.americamagazine.org

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Massimo Faggioli @massimofaggioli.bsky.social · 6d

il card Parolin sulle manifestazioni dei giorni scorsi:
"Anche se a volte queste iniziative, a causa delle violenze di pochi facinorosi, rischiano di far passare a livello mediatico un messaggio sbagliato, mi colpisce positivamente la partecipazione alle manifestazioni, e l’impegno di tanti giovani”

Massimo Faggioli @massimofaggioli.bsky.social · 6d

da omelia del card. McElroy alla "Red Mass" di ieri: “we live at a moment in which politics is tribal, not dialogical [...] The result is explosive, within politics, family life, and friendships."

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Massimo Faggioli @massimofaggioli.bsky.social · 7d

breve risposta all'articolo di Federico Rampini sul "Corriere" oggi: gli agenti dell'ICE stanno terrorizzando le città americane; il Dipartimento di Giustizia sta diventando il dipartimento per le vendette personali di Trump; il Congresso è completamente inerte. E c'e' molto altro.

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Massimo Faggioli @massimofaggioli.bsky.social · 8d

60 years ago exactly one of the most important papal speeches about peace and the international community

www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-c...

"Never again war!" Pope Paul VI's unheeded and still urgently relevant appeal - Vatican News

Sixty years ago Pope Paul VI addressed the United Nations.

www.vaticannews.va

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Massimo Faggioli @massimofaggioli.bsky.social · 8d

ho visto e ascoltato il discordo della presidente del Consiglio Giorgia Meloni ad Assisi oggi: un discorso studiato, da professionista. Credo e temo che stara’ al potere per un bel pezzo, visti i dilettanti dall’altra parte.

Massimo Faggioli @massimofaggioli.bsky.social · 8d

mio articolo oggi su “L’Osservatore Romano”, supplemento “Donne Chiesa Mondo”
www.osservatoreromano.va/it/news/2025...

La Chiesa cattolica americana tra ideologie di genere e machismo autoritario - L'Osservatore Romano

Il difficile equilibrio tra la difesa della dignità femminile e il rifiuto degli estremi ideologici in un contesto di crescente polarizzazione ...

www.osservatoreromano.va

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