About the Webinar
The conclave's choice of Leo XIV—the first U.S.-born supreme pontiff—on May 8, 2025, marked a key point in the ongoing shift of the Catholic Church’s relationship with the world. Since the late 20th century, the most widely accepted narrative depicts Catholicism as a spiritual, cultural, and prominent political force, not just inside the Vatican, but across the global landscape.
Leo’s election—as a pope with U.S. roots, a member of the Augustinian order, and with many years spent in Latin America—points to this outward shift. Since the beginning of his papacy, Leo’s continued concentration on unity and peace has been strategic in speaking to international political tensions. So how will this papacy continue to develop the Church’s role on the global stage?
Join Liturgical Press on October 1 at 11:00am CST as we hear from Massimo Faggioli, author of Leo XIV and the Global Church in conversation with leading ecclesiologist, Kristin Colberg. They’ll discuss the many implications of this new papacy and its relation to the global church and the international community.
Meet Our Guests
Massimo Faggioli, PhD, is professor in the department of theology and religious studies at Villanova University. He is an internationally established scholar in the area of Vatican II and the papacy especially, and a renowned public commentator on church affairs. His new book Leo XIV and the Global Church is available from Liturgical Press. He is author and contributor of many other books including The Legacy and Limits of Vatican II in an Age of Crisis (2025); Catholicism and Citizenship: Political Cultures of the Church in the Twenty-First Century (2017); Sorting Out Catholicism: A Brief History of the New Ecclesial Movements (2014); and many others.
Kristin Colberg, PhD, is associate professor of theology at Saint John's University and School of Theology and the College of Saint Benedict, and the sole U.S. member on theological commission for the Synod on Synodality. She received her doctorate at the University of Notre Dame in systematic theology. She is the co-author of The Future of Synodality: How We Move Forward from Here (Liturgical Press, 2025) and several other books from Liturgical Press. Colberg also serves as a member of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC).
NEW BOOK NOW AVAILABLE
Leo XIV and the Global Church: Unity and Peace
By Massimo Faggioli
In Leo XIV and the Global Church, world renowned theologian Massimo Faggioli details how the first pope born in the United States and the first member of the Augustinian Order on the throne of Peter interacts with the breakdown in the international order—the relationship between religion and politics, between church and state, between authority and power. Leo XIV engages with this situation, thanks to a curriculum that unites center and periphery, in an unprecedented way in the history of the Church, increasingly making the papacy an irreplaceable voice on the global stage. Learn more...
Webinar registrants will receive a special offer when they buy this new book!