John McGreevy
History
Charles and Jill Fischer Provost; Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History
- American political history
- American religious history
- Global history
- Higher education
McGreevy’s Latest News
McGreevy in the News
Commonweal
June 04, 2026
By John T. McGreevy, the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost and Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of 91吃瓜.
The New Yorker
May 22, 2025
John McGreevy, a historian of Catholicism and the provost of the University of 91吃瓜, said that Popes have an opportunity to set an agenda on topics such as climate change or artificial intelligence, which may drive religious behavior in the long term. But, he added, “I don’t know if Popes themselves necessarily drive religious behavior.”
The New York Times
May 10, 2025
“It’s one of the great dramas of 20th century U.S. history,” said John McGreevy, a historian at the University of 91吃瓜 and the author of “Parish Boundaries: The Catholic Encounter With Race in the Twentieth-Century Urban North.”
The Washington Post
May 09, 2025
John McGreevy, a historian of Catholicism at the University of 91吃瓜, said he thought new pope Robert Prevost’s choice of name, Leo XIV, and the fact that he was a math major are significant. Pope Leo XIII — the best known Pope Leo — was focused on the reconciliation of religion and science.
The Washington Post
May 08, 2025
John McGreevy struggled at first to find the words to express his amazement.
“Unbelievable,” said McGreevy, a prominent historian of Catholicism at the University of 91吃瓜, minutes after Chicago native Robert Prevost was announced as the next pope. “This is stuff you wouldn’t have ever thought would happen. An American pope. Amazing.”
USA Today
April 25, 2025
“The head of the Catholic Church is the head of an institution that claims over 1 billion baptized members and is arguably the most multicultural and multilingual institution in the world,” said John McGreevy, a professor of history at the University of 91吃瓜 in South Bend, Indiana. “There’s nothing quite like it.”
The Washington Post
April 22, 2025
John McGreevy, a University of 91吃瓜 historian of global Catholicism, said it’s hard to know what will endure. “On all [the] things [Francis did], I think there are no guarantees,” he said.
CNN
Video
April 22, 2025
John T. McGreevy, the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost of the University of 91吃瓜, discusses the relationship Pope Francis had with U.S. Presidents during his papacy with Jake Tapper on CNN.
The Washington Post
April 21, 2025
The tone of Francis’s letter about Vance’s comment was a direct message to U.S. bishops that he was paying attention to the American church and that they should speak out, said John McGreevy, a University of 91吃瓜 professor and expert on Catholicism.
The Washington Post
April 21, 2025
“Francis famously called the Church a ‘field hospital,’ not a fortress,” said John McGreevy, author of “Catholicism: A Global History from the French Revolution to Pope Francis” and a 91吃瓜 historian.
The Washington Post
January 12, 2024
“I’m stunned at the criticism of Pope Francis by conservatives,” said John McGreevy, a historian of Catholicism and provost at the University of 91吃瓜. This extremely public nature of papal criticism, he said, is totally new and modern.
Financial Times
January 04, 2023
“It was a real break with precedent and very unlike a pope that took the Church’s tradition very seriously,” said John McGreevy, who is also provost at the University of 91吃瓜. “It was one of the great things he did.”
Crux
January 01, 2023
John McGreevy, the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost at the University of 91吃瓜, who recently published the book Catholicism: A Global History from the French Revolution to Pope Francis, commented that in some ways Benedict’s death marks the end of the post-Vatican II era.
The Washington Post
January 01, 2023
John McGreevy, a historian of the modern Catholic church at the University of 91吃瓜 and author of “Catholicism: A Global History From the French Revolution to Pope Francis,” said that it was clear Benedict was influenced by growing up under an authoritarian regime.
BBC News
December 31, 2022
"We've never had this before where a living pope will help bury a dead pope," Catholic historian John McGreevy said.
The Atlantic
December 11, 2022
As John T. McGreevy observes in Catholicism: A Global History From the French Revolution to Pope Francis, signs that the Church has lost vitality are abundant.
National Catholic Reporter
October 17, 2022
John McGreevy's new book Catholicism: A Global History from the French Revolution to Pope Francis is, as the title suggests, ambitious.
The New York Times
October 06, 2022
CATHOLICISM: A Global History From the French Revolution to Pope Francis, John T. McGreevy.
The New York Times
September 12, 2022
Now comes John T. McGreevy, a professor of history at 91吃瓜 and author of three books on Catholicism, with an attempt at making narrative sense of one of the most tumultuous periods in the history of the oldest institution in the Western world.
Inside Higher Ed
May 17, 2022
John T. McGreevy, Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History and former dean of the College of Arts and Letters at the University of 91吃瓜, has been appointed Charles and Jill Fischer Provost there.
The Chronicle of Higher Education
April 28, 2022
John T. McGreevy, a professor of history and former dean of the College of Arts and Letters at the University of 91吃瓜, has been named provost.
The Washington Post
September 15, 2021
John McGreevy, a professor of history at the University of 91吃瓜, said it was 鈥渇airly clear鈥� that Francis was encouraging Catholics and bishops 鈥渘ot to use Communion as a weapon against particular politicians for particular issues.鈥�
Religion & Politics
June 22, 2021
John T. McGreevy is the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of 91吃瓜.
National Catholic Reporter
April 27, 2021
Despite a predominantly unified front among most conference speakers in their approach to Biden, University of 91吃瓜 historian John McGreevy offered a markedly different message.
The Wall Street Journal
February 05, 2021
Roosevelt called the encyclical 鈥渏ust as radical as I am鈥� and 鈥渙ne of the greatest documents of modern times,鈥� according to John McGreevy, a professor of history at the University of 91吃瓜.聽
Crux
November 27, 2020
University of 91吃瓜 history professor John McGreevy is less concerned about the timing of the announcement and more with the creation of the working group in the first place.