Vatican City saw seven new cases of the coronavirus this week, marking a sudden second wave of infections in the world’s smallest nation. Four of those infected were Swiss Guards; the other three were Vatican residents. As Vatican employees attempt to trace and test those who may have been exposed to these individuals, the influx of cases has thrown into question whether it is safe to continue papal audiences, where many people ignore social distance protocols and some, including Pope Francis, d...
Oct 14, 2020•21 min
This week on the “Inside the Vatican” podcast, Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and producer Colleen Dulle unpack their takeaways from Pope Francis’ new encyclical, “Fratelli Tutti.” The hosts discuss the pope’s unique interpretation of the parable of the Good Samaritan. Pope Francis devotes an entire chapter of the encyclical to the story, calling on his readers to imagine whether they are most like the Samaritan or the priest and Levite who pass by the wounded man. He examines today’s so...
Oct 07, 2020•24 min
Pope Francis’ new encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, was released today. The encyclical, which is the highest classification of papal document, is Francis’ diagnosis of the social problems plaguing our world—and his proposed cures. In this brief Inside the Vatican update, host Colleen Dulle breaks down the document’s main themes. Visit americamagazine.org for full coverage of Fratelli Tutti. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Oct 04, 2020•6 min
Cardinal Angelo Becciu resigned suddenly from his position as head of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints on Thursday night, Sept. 24. In a one-sentence press release, the Vatican announced that the cardinal also gave up the “rights connected to the Cardinalate,” including his titular church and participation in conclaves. This week on “Inside the Vatican,” hosts Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell discuss the accusations of embezzlement and nepotism that Cardinal Becciu said Pope...
Sep 30, 2020•18 min
On September 17, two Vatican stories broke that illustrate the difference in style between Pope Francis and the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Pope Francis met a group of parents with L.G.B.T. children, telling them “God loves your children as they are” and “the church loves your children as they are because they are children of God.” The same day, news broke that the Irish priest Tony Flannery, who had been suspended from ministry in 2012 after speaking out in favor of wo...
Sep 23, 2020•23 min
This weekend, Pope Francis called on government leaders and those with “public responsibilities” to meet the just demands of protestors. With protests rising around the world, which demonstrators was Francis referring to? Veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell joins host Colleen Dulle to unpack the protests Pope Francis has his eye on, from Greece to Belarus to Hong Kong and the United States. Earlier in the show, Gerry gives an update on the coronavirus in the Vatican. The hosts discuss...
Sep 16, 2020•20 min
The Vatican announced this weekend that Pope Francis will sign his new encyclical in Assisi on Oct. 3, just in time for the feast day on the following day of St. Francis, after whom the Pope took his name. The new document is called “Fratelli Tutti” or “Brothers and sisters, all” in Italian, and if Francis’ previous encyclical, “Laudato Si’,” is any indication, this will be a significant document. “Fratelli Tutti” will likely cover many of the themes that Pope Francis has addressed since the beg...
Sep 09, 2020•11 min
Just before Covid-19 paused public life in Italy, the entire “secret archives” of Pope Pius XII (1939-58) opened to researchers for the first time. The opening, which had long been asked for by historians and was announced under Pope Benedict XVI, would make available a treasure trove of documents from Pius’ pontificate, spanning the Second World War and into the Cold War. Some documents from the archive had been released from the 1960s to the 1980s to counter the popular narrative that Pius had...
Sep 02, 2020•24 min
Today the Vatican released its long-awaited handbook, or “vademecum,” on how bishops and superiors of religious orders should handle allegations of sexual abuse against minors by clergy. This is the first time that all of the Vatican’s guidelines for handling abuse, from reporting to investigating and taking juridical action have been put together in one step-by-step format. In this special update episode of “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle unpacks what’s new in the handbook and why it t...
Jul 17, 2020•5 min
In April of this year, the Vatican announced the creation of a new commission to study the female diaconate, following up on Pope Francis’ promise to reopen the question at the behest of the Amazonian bishops. Pope Francis had set up a previous commission to study the roles of female deacons in the early church in 2016. Though that commission’s final report had not been published, the pope described its findings as inconclusive and the members as “toads from different wells.” This week, on our l...
Jul 01, 2020•21 min
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI left Italy for the first time in seven years last week, traveling to Germany to visit his ill brother, Georg. This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Gerry explains the challenges travel poses for the emeritus pope and why Benedict returned to the Vatican after only a few days. Since it is Colleen and Gerry’s last episode together before the summer break, the two also look ahead to the next few months. Gerry explains how the Pope spends his summers, and Colleen and Gerry di...
Jun 24, 2020•19 min
Last week, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò was back in the spotlight after President Donald Trump tweeted promoting an open letter that Viganò had written to him. The letter praised Mr. Trump for “defending the right to life” and expressed Archbishop Viganò’s belief in a number of conspiracy theories, including the idea of a “deep state” group undermining the American government and a parallel group within the Catholic church. Archbishop Viganò has published many such letters since his original 11...
Jun 17, 2020•22 min
It’s been five years since the release of “Laudato Si’,” and Pope Francis has called for a year of prayer and study on the encyclical’s themes of integral human ecology—that is, the importance of protecting the environment and the poor, who are most directly affected by climate change and the destruction of nature. But five years out, as the church works with new resolve to implement “Laudato Si’,” it is worth asking: Did the document make a difference the first time around? On this episode of I...
Jun 14, 2020•16 min
Pope Francis spoke out on the police killing of George Floyd last week as protests against racism spread across the globe. This week on Inside the Vatican, veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell describes the protests in Europe and the change of heart some Europeans have had about racism in their countries. Pope Francis made his position on the death of George Floyd clear as he called two American bishops to thank them for speaking out against racism. One, Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, h...
Jun 10, 2020•22 min
Pope Francis took a major step in his ongoing reform of Vatican finance on June 1 by putting in place a centralized system to approve who gets contracts to work with the Vatican. The change amounts to what Crux editor John L. Allen, Jr. called a “direct frontal assault on Vatican nepotism.” This week on the Inside the Vatican podcast, America’s veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and I explain how the former system had led to corruption and how the new system aims to stamp it out. Beg...
Jun 03, 2020•24 min
This week on the “Inside the Vatican” podcast, America’s Rome correspondent, Gerard O’Connell, gives an exclusive look inside the Vatican museums, which will reopen with new social distancing measures in place on Monday, June 1. Then, Gerry and producer Colleen Dulle discuss the death of the former superior general of the Jesuits, Adolfo Nicolás. Father Nicolás led the Jesuits from 2008 to 2016 and was responsible in large part for implementing the justice-oriented vision laid out by the Jesuits...
May 27, 2020•21 min
As Italy gradually reopens and public Masses resume there, the Vatican is facing the challenge of a decreased income while working to lead the world’s humanitarian and diplomatic response to the coronavirus pandemic. This week on the “Inside the Vatican” podcast, veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell describes the scene in St. Peter’s Basilica on its first day open to the public since the start of Italy’s lockdown. Gerry and producer Colleen Dulle discuss Pope Francis’ last livestreamed...
May 20, 2020•22 min
On this week’s episode of the “Inside the Vatican” podcast, producer Colleen Dulle and Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell discuss the Australian Royal Commission’s findings that Cardinal George Pell knew about priests abusing children in the Ballarat diocese as early as 1973, a year after he began working in that diocese, and that Cardinal Pell was involved in transferring pedophile priests between parishes. The commission’s findings were previously released in a redacted form while Cardinal...
May 13, 2020•22 min
Last week, an Italian newspaper reported that Pope Francis had fired five employees who were under investigation for their involvement in the $200 million purchase of minority stake in a luxury apartment development in London’s upscale Chelsea neighborhood. After the Vatican’s Secretariat of State lost money on the investment, the Vatican’s middleman, Italian businessman Raffaele Mincione, advised the Vatican to buy the remainder of the property, which he owned. The Vatican’s judicial system is ...
May 09, 2020•15 min
In this episode, Vatican correspondent Gerard O'Connell gives an on-the-ground update from “phase two” of Italy’s coronavirus lockdown. Gerry and producer Colleen Dulle also discuss the interreligious day of prayer between Muslims and Christians for an end to coronavirus, along with Pope Francis’ call for nations and corporations to share any eventual Covid-19 vaccine. That call was the latest in a string of requests from the Vatican for greater multilateralism, which former Italian prime minist...
May 06, 2020•25 min
It’s no secret that Pope Francis has faced opposition during his pontificate: some of it, the healthy disagreement he’s called for, some more serious—what The Tablet Vatican reporter Christopher Lamb calls well-financed, well-publicized “guerilla attacks” on the pope. Chris outlines more than one hundred instances of such highly-publicized attacks on Francis in his new book The Outsider: Pope Francis and His Battle to Reform the Church. He joins “Inside the Vatican” host Colleen Dulle to discuss...
May 02, 2020•20 min
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has announced that Italy will transition into “phase 2” of its coronavirus lockdown, re-opening the manufacturing and construction industries on May 4, followed by libraries, museums, and some stores May 18. Not included in the re-openings were churches, causing outcry from the Italian bishops, who demanded a plan to resume public Masses. On this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” America’s Rome correspondent Gerard O’Connell explains what negotiations are hap...
Apr 29, 2020•21 min
In recent weeks, the Vatican has made it clear that it sees the coronavirus pandemic as a pressing call for the transformation of society. This past week, Pope Francis put together a task force with specific mandates for coordinating humanitarian aid, international relations, and the protection of the environment, all at the service of a broader vision of human solidarity in a time of pandemic. That vision was laid out on March 30 in a note entitled “Global Pandemic and Universal Brotherhood,” i...
Apr 25, 2020•12 min
Pope Francis has focused his messages to the world this week on the importance of international cooperation and the sharing of resources in order to overcome the coronavirus pandemic and build a more equitable society. On this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” America’s Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and producer Colleen Dulle discuss the vision Pope Francis laid out in his new “plan for rising up again.” Then, the hosts talk about the task force the pope has assembled to actualize this v...
Apr 22, 2020•28 min
Molly Burhans, the founder and executive director of GoodLands, has created what may be the world’s largest set of Catholic geographic information. Her nonprofit organization has mapped church-owned properties around the world with a view towards using the church’s resources more responsibly. This work has taken on an increased importance during the coronavirus pandemic: As she explains on “Inside the Vatican,” knowing the location of church hospitals in relation to, for example, low-income comm...
Apr 18, 2020•20 min
In his Easter messages, Pope Francis came out in support of a universal basic wage, relaxing economic sanctions, and forgiving the debts of poor countries. This week on the “Inside the Vatican” podcast, veteran Vatican reporter Gerard O’Connell joins producer Colleen Dulle to talk about these policies and to look back at the response to St. John Paul II’s call for debt forgiveness in 2000. Colleen and Gerry also take a look at the new commission to study women deacons, which they reported on in ...
Apr 15, 2020•23 min
Usually, Holy Week doesn’t require any extra work from the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. A separate office organizes the pope’s liturgies, and the guidelines used around the world stay the same from year to year. This year, though, with coronavirus bringing the widespread suspension of public Masses, several needs arose that only the Congregation for Divine Worship could respond to: The congregation worked quickly to establish the new Mass in Tim...
Apr 11, 2020•20 min
Pope Francis has given his first interview to the English-language media, which he was invited to give as a message to the anglophone world in this time of crisis. Host Colleen Dulle gives an update on what you can find in the interview, and on the new commission to study women deacons that the Vatican announced today. Links from the show: ‘A Time of Great Uncertainty’: An Interview with Pope Francis Pope Francis has set up a new commission to study women deacons Learn more about your ad choices...
Apr 08, 2020•2 min
After almost five years of hearings and trials and appeals, Cardinal George Pell’s conviction of child sexual abuse was overturned April 6 with a unanimous decision from Australia’s highest court. Cardinal Pell has now left prison and will stay at a Carmelite monastery. Now that a final judicial decision has been made in the Australian legal system, the Vatican will need to revisit the canonical investigation it had previously opened into historical complaints against Cardinal Pell, which had be...
Apr 08, 2020•23 min
As the coronavirus pandemic rages on, the Vatican is looking both to provide for people’s spiritual needs and to ensure justice for those on the margins of society. In this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and producer Colleen Dulle give an update on two new cases of coronavirus in the Vatican. Then, they turn to the Vatican’s response, beginning with the new prayers Pope Francis authorized this week. The pope approved a special intention to be adde...
Apr 04, 2020•20 min
