It is because Catholicism played such a formative role in the construction of Western legal culture that it is the focal point of this enquiry. The account of international law from its origin in the treaties of Westphalia, and located in the writing of the Grotian tradition, had lost contact with another cosmopolitan history of international law that reappeared with the growth of the early twentieth century human rights movement. The beginnings of the human rights movement, grounded in democratic sovereign power, returned to that moral vocabulary to promote the further growth of international order in the twentieth century. In recognising this technique of periodically returning to Western cosmopolitan legal culture, this book endeavours to provide a more complete account of the human rights project that factors in the contribution that cosmopolitan Catholicism made to a general theory of sovereignty, international law and human rights.

‘Catholic cosmopolitanism has made an essential contribution to the rise of human rights law in the twentieth century. This well-researched book convincingly demonstrates that such an approach to international law did not come out of the blue but instead built on a millennium of Catholic legal, political and theological thought from the medieval period to the modern. It also leaves the reader with a pressing question: will the fruitful alliance of cosmopolitan traditions stemming from the Enlightenment and Christianity hold? Swimming somewhat against the tide, the author makes a case for why this would be desirable while acknowledging that it appears increasingly unlikely.’

Hans-Martien ten Napel - Universiteit Leiden

‘This timely and challenging book takes us beyond the traditional histories of human rights law, exploring its often neglected roots in and links to the contested cosmopolitanism of Catholicism. Understanding the roots and limits of the modern human rights project requires continuous reflection and an openness to new ways of thinking about the ruptures that human rights claims seek to provoke. Catholic Cosmopolitanism and Human Rights will be an indispensable resource for all scholars and historians of the human rights project, and for critical and sympathetic observers of Catholicism’s claims to universalism.'

Siobhán Mullally - Established Professor of Human Rights Law and Director of the Irish Centre for Human Rights at National University of Ireland Galway