L'Enciclopedia dei Papi: tra Giubileo e centenario dell'Enciclopedia italiana.

On Thursday, 23 October, at 5 p.m., at the Pontifical Gregorian University, the first meeting of the new annual cycle of the permanent seminar on the History of the Papacy will be held, entitled ‘The Encyclopaedia of Popes: between the Jubilee and the centenary of the Italian Encyclopaedia. Assessment and prospects 25 years after the first edition’. The event, co-organised by the journal Archivum Historiae Pontificiae and the Treccani Cultura Foundation, is part of the celebrations for the centenary of the Italian Encyclopaedia, founded in 1925 by Giovanni Treccani.

Ideated by historian Antonio Menniti Ippolito (1960-2016), the Encyclopedia of Popes was published on the occasion of the Jubilee in 2000. Coordinated by Menniti Ippolito himself, the work benefited from the scientific co-direction of Manlio Simonetti for the ancient section, Girolamo Arnaldi for the medieval section, Mario Caravale for the modern section and Giacomo Martina for the section dedicated to the contemporary era.

The work provided Italy with its first scientific, accurate and reliable treatment of the biographical profiles of the popes, and was then updated in 2014 with entries on Benedict XVI and Francis and supplemented in recent years by thematic publications. Twenty-five years after its publication and in light of the Catholic Church's jubilee and the centenary of the Italian Encyclopaedia, the meeting aims to explore the premises, origins, characteristics and reception of the work, as well as its historiographical perspectives.

The meeting will feature a discussion between the Prefect of the Vatican Apostolic Archives, Fr. Rocco Ronzani, who will focus on ancient times; Umberto Longo, from Sapienza University of Rome and Director of the Italian Historical Institute for the Middle Ages, who will reflect on the biographies of medieval popes; Massimo Carlo Giannini, from the University of Teramo and the Complutense University of Madrid, who will focus on the modern era; while Roberto Regoli, from the Pontifical Gregorian University and Director of the journal Archivum Historiae Pontificiae, will reflect on the contemporary era. Andrea Antonio Verardi, of the Pontifical Gregorian University, will evaluate the themes of the popes and the Papacy in the first edition of the Italian Encyclopaedia. The discussion will be moderated by journalist Mario Prignano, editor-in-chief of Tg1 and author of essays on the history of the papacy.