La Civiltà Cattolica

La Civiltà Cattolica (Italian for Catholic Civilization) is a periodical published by the Jesuits in Rome, Italy. It has been published continuously since 1850 and is among the oldest of Catholic Italian periodicals. All of the journal's articles are the collective responsibility of the entire "college" of the magazine's writers even if published under a single author's name. It is the only one to be directly revised by the Secretariat of State of the Holy See and to receive its approval before being published. The periodical is headquartered since 1951 in the Villa Malta (Pincian Hill) situated in Via F. Crispi, Rome. In more recent times the magazine has advocated reaching out to children, teens, and young people who use and interact with social media (Facebook, Twitter, Skype, YouTube, etc., on devices such as the iPod and iPad) to an intense degree, and find ways to foster their faith life through interior meditation, including, among other exercises, the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the Jesuits' founder. The journal seeks to promote a catholic culture, thought, and civilization in the modern world. Its founder, Fr. Carlo Maria Curci, wrote that it brings "the idea and the movement of civilization to that Catholic concept which it seems to have divorced from for about three centuries." Although the magazine aims to reach a wide audience and be understood by all, it intends to treat issues with scientific rigour. In his 2006 address to the college of journalists at the journal Pope Benedict XVI noted: Here then, is where the mission of a cultural journal such as La Civiltà Cattolica fits in: active participation in the contemporary cultural debate, both to propose and at the same time to spread the Christian faith in a serious way. Its purpose is both to present it clearly and in fidelity to the Magisterium of the Church, and to defend without polemics the truth that is sometimes distorted by unfounded accusations directed at the Ecclesial Community.