Robert Ventresca presents at American Historical Association meeting

Robert A. Ventresca, chair of the History Department and acting chair of Modern Languages, travelled to Chicago in early January to attend the annual meeting of the American Historical Association (AHA), where he participated in a sponsored session of the Society for Italian Historical Studies on “Pius XII, Religion and Politics in Italy.” Ventresca presented a paper titled “Un Mondo Nuovo: Pius XII and the Challenge of Political Pluralism in Cold War Italy,” which explores Pius XII’s political theology vis-à-vis democracy, liberalism and communism, as well as Catholic civic engagement more generally in Italy’s democratic transition after the fall of Fascism. The paper thus addresses the origins, contours, and limitations of doctrinal development in the Catholic tradition on the question of democracy, and draws upon Ventresca’s ongoing research into the complex relationship between doctrine and practice in the papal politics and diplomacy of the 20th century.

To view Ventresca's bio click here.