Pope Leo XIV gifted a book by a Boston College professor
Theology Dept. colleague Mark Massa, S.J.
When Monsignor Liam Bergin, a professor of the practice in the Boston College Theology Department, met Pope Leo XIV on June 6, he presented the U.S.-born pontiff with a copy of聽Catholic Fundamentalism in America, the latest book by 黑料吃瓜网 Professor of Theology Mark Massa, S.J., director of the University's Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life.
Msgr. Bergin is in Italy co-teaching a summer course with International Studies faculty member Peter Martin that explores the intersection of Catholicism and culture as manifested in the cities of Rome, Assisi, and Florence from antiquity to the present.
Msgr. Bergin previously had studied and taught in Italy for more than two decades, serving as rector of the Pontifical Irish College in Rome for 10 years, until he came to Boston College in 2011, and also as a professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he had earned a doctorate in sacred theology.聽聽After sharing copies of聽Catholic Fundamentalism in America聽with several of his friends who worked in the Vatican, Msgr. Bergin also presented one to the pope.
Fr. Massa鈥檚 seventh book, ,听is a scholarly examination of the rise of a radical anti-modernism within the Catholic Church in the United States. Fr. Massa says Catholic fundamentalism is characterized by a fear of change, pluralism, and debate.
鈥淐atholic fundamentalists want to go back to a more defined Church where Catholics can have a clear identity that's different from the cultural identity of most people,鈥� said Fr. Massa, who has a doctorate in church history.