Roberto de Mattei

Roberto de Mattei (born 1948 in Rome) is an Italian Catholic historian whom Wikipedia describes as a traditionalist. According to his publishers' biographies, he is president of the Lepanto Foundation, which has offices in Rome and Washington, D.C., founder of the Lepanto Cultural Centre in Rome, and director of the magazine Radici Cristiane and the news agency Corrispondenza Romana (Angelico Press; Catholic Education Resource Center). He taught Church history at the European University of Rome and was vice-president of Italy's National Research Council (CNR) until 2011; sources differ on whether his term began in 2003 or 2004 (Scripta Theologica; Wikipedia).

History of Vatican II. His best-known book, Il Concilio Vaticano II. Una storia mai scritta (Lindau, 2010; English edition The Second Vatican Council: An Unwritten Story, 2012), is structured around the Council's four sessions (Scripta Theologica review) and has been presented by the SSPX-linked Angelus Press as a counterpoint to the 'Bologna school' history edited by Giuseppe Alberigo (SSPX.org). Its selection for the 2011 Acqui Storia prize led the jury's president, Guido Pescosolido, to resign, arguing that the book's anti-conciliar outlook was incompatible with the standards of scientific historiography, as reported at the time.

2011 broadcast. In March 2011 he described the Japanese earthquake and tsunami as a divine punishment in a Radio Maria broadcast; an online petition called for his resignation from the CNR (Global Voices), and the Catholic daily Avvenire recorded an editor's public disagreement with him (Avvenire).

Pontificate of Francis and after. De Mattei was publicly critical of aspects of Pope Francis's pontificate (Wikipedia) and was among the 40 original signatories of the Correctio filialis on Amoris laetitia, delivered on 11 August 2017 and made public on 24 September 2017 (FSSPX.News). In June 2021 he alleged on Corrispondenza Romana that many texts signed by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò had been written by others; Viganò called the allegation false (Inside the Vatican; The Remnant). In November 2025 he criticised the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith's doctrinal note on Marian titles (InfoVaticana).

Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira. He wrote The Crusader of the 20th Century, a biography of the Brazilian Catholic leader Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira (d. 1995), with a preface by Cardinal Alfons Maria Stickler (pliniocorreadeoliveira.info).

The website of Fr. Charles Murr, author of Murder in the 33rd Degree, states that de Mattei backed Murr's account of a 1978 Vatican investigation into Freemasonry (charlesmurr.com); see Freemasonry and conspiracy claims.