Pope Leo has reaffirmed Vatican II as the established magisterium (official teaching) of the Church, and Synodality as flowing therefrom. Calling it the “guiding star” of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo stated: "We have yet to achieve ecclesial reform more fully in a ministerial sense and, in the face of today's challenges, we are called to continue to be vigilant interpreters of the signs of the times, joyful proclaimers of the Gospel, courageous witnesses of justice and peace." As the Holy Year of Hope concluded, Leo announced a new catechesis -a series of talks -he will give on the teachings of the Second Vatican Council. In this presentation, Massimo Faggioli, a universally-recognized expert on Vatican II and Pope Francis, will help us to understand more fully the connection between Vatican II and Synodality as it is emerging in the papacy of Leo XIV.

Bio

Dr. Massimo Faggioli is professor in ecclesiology at the Loyola Institute at Trinity College Dublin (Ireland). Between 2016 and 2025 he was professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University (Philadelphia, USA). Among his recent publications: The Liminal Papacy of Pope Francis. Moving Toward Global Catholicity (2020); The Oxford Handbook of Vatican II, co-edited with Catherine Clifford (2023); Theology and Catholic Higher Education: Beyond Our Identity Crisis (2024). He is co-author of Global Catholicism: Between Disruption and Encounter (2024) with Bryan Froehle, with whom he co-founded and co-edits the series “Studies in Global Catholicism” for Brill Publishers.