Pope Francis gave a wide-ranging interview to the Associated Press, on Wednesday, January 25, 2023. It the interview, he addressed a range of topics including- homosexuality, his own handling of the sexual abuse crisis, the Vatican-China agreement, how he responds to his loudest critics and his own health. You can read an article summarizing the interview, by Ricardo da Silva S.J., at americamagazine.org. Please consider supporting this podcast by becoming a digital subscriber to America Media. ...
Jan 25, 2023•3 min
The late Cardinal George Pell is now the confirmed author of the once-secret memorandum that sought to discredit the papacy of Pope Francis. This, read in concert with a letter by the cardinal, published posthumously—which characterizes Pope Francis’ succession to the chair of St. Peter as a “catastrophe”—offers stark insight into the dueling forces present within the ranks of the church’s most senior figures. On this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Ricardo da Silva, S.J., and Gerard O’Connell ...
Jan 20, 2023•37 min
Cardinal George Pell, an Australian prelate who served as the Vatican's first financial overlord, has died. The cardinal was also intimately involved with the present revision of the English translation of the Mass and had been the most senior Catholic cleric to be convicted and imprisoned for child sexual abuse. The judgment was later unanimously overturned by a full bench of Australia's high court, but only after he served more than 400 days in maximum-security prisons. On “Inside the Vatican”...
Jan 12, 2023•38 min
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was laid to rest just before noon (Rome time) on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023, in the grottoes underneath St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, where the mortal remains of many pontiffs reside. About 50,000 people came to the Vatican to pay their final respects to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI—who served the Catholic Church for nearly eight years before his historic retirement in February 2013—the first time in 600 years that a pope had resigned from office. From the time of his...
Jan 06, 2023•42 min
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died at 9:34 a.m. Rome time, today, Saturday, December 31st, 2022. On this special update episode of “Inside the Vatican,” veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell joins host Colleen Dulle for a conversation on the emeritus pope’s funeral arrangements, his legacy, and Gerry’s memories of him. Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope and took the name Benedict XVI in 2005 after the long papacy of John Paul II. In 2013, Benedict XVI became the first pope in 600 years to r...
Dec 31, 2022•16 min
In a surprise statement at the end of his public audience on Dec. 28, Pope Francis appealed for “a special prayer” for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI because, he said, “he is very sick.” Just after the audience, Francis went to visit Benedict at his residence in the Vatican. On “Inside the Vatican” this week, veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and host Colleen Dulle give an update on the former pope’s health. According to a Vatican spokesman, by the time of the podcast’s release, his con...
Dec 29, 2022•34 min
In the last few days, much more information has come out detailing the timeline of the abuse allegations and restrictions against Marko Rupnik, S.J., the Jesuit priest-artist who was, we now know, excommunicated for absolving a woman with whom he had a sexual relationship. On this week’s episode of “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and producer Ricardo da Silva, S.J., who is filling in for Gerard O’Connell, walk listeners through the timeline of what we now know, along with the important ...
Dec 22, 2022•39 min
This week on “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell give an update on the new facts that have emerged in the case of the Jesuit artist Marko Rupnik, who was suspended from parts of his ministry in response to allegations of abuse against him. The facts are difficult to confirm, so this week on the podcast Colleen and Gerry also explain the process they use to determine whether information is credible. The day after this episode was recorded, F...
Dec 15, 2022•32 min
The Slovenian Jesuit artist Marko Rupnik has been barred from hearing confessions or offering spiritual direction after allegations that he spiritually and sexually abused adult members of a religious order of women in Slovenia. On this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican reporter Gerard O’Connell explain what is known about the case. Up next, the Vatican’s website showed a 404 error message (page not available) on and off for a few days last week, following t...
Dec 08, 2022•24 min
Last week, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, Nov. 22, several members of the America Media team had an exclusive two-hour sit-down interview with Pope Francis; it was published Monday the 28th. The interview was wide-ranging and included questions on political polarization, lack of trust in the U.S. bishops conference, the war in Ukraine, transparency on sexual abuse cases, women’s ordination, encouragement to Black Catholics, and discussion of the Vatican-China deal. Since its release, internati...
Dec 01, 2022•35 min
Exclusive: Pope Francis denounces polarization, talks women’s ordination, the U.S. bishops and more in a new interview with America Media! It’s an exciting time for America Media! We've transformed the organization under the leadership of Matt Malone, S.J. into a modern media entity that leads the conversation on faith and culture. There is no doubt that this transformation will continue at America under the leadership of Traug Keller, president and Father Sam Sawyer, SJ, 15th editor in chief. W...
Nov 29, 2022•1 min
For Thanksgiving week, “Inside the Vatican” is bringing you a brief update on a few of the top Vatican stories from the last week. Up first, the way Catholics calculate when to celebrate Easter could be changing. This past Saturday, Nov. 19, Pope Francis met with Mar Awa III, Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, which is an Eastern Christian church based in Iraq. In the meeting, the pope took the opportunity to express his support for the idea that Eastern and Western churche...
Nov 24, 2022•6 min
Pope Francis met with America editor-at-large James Martin, S.J. in the Vatican’s apostolic palace on Nov. 11 for 45 minutes. This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Father Martin joins hosts Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell to discuss their exchange, which focused mostly on ministry to LGBT Catholics. Gerry explains the significance of the meeting’s duration—about twice as long as most heads of state have with the pope—and its location. “It’s a message to be received in the apostolic palace,” Gerr...
Nov 17, 2022•28 min
At a meeting of the French bishops’ conference, a letter from Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard was read aloud, in which the cardinal admitted that he had “conducted himself in a reprehensible fashion” with a 14 year old girl, adding, “My behavior necessarily caused in this person grave and lasting consequences.” On “Inside the Vatican” this week, host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell explain what is known about the case. Cardinal Ricard was up to now a member of the Va...
Nov 10, 2022•24 min
The first global report for the Synod on Synodality came out last week, and it’s the Vatican’s first official word on what they’ve been hearing in listening sessions since August 2021. This week on “Inside the Vatican,” producer Ricardo da Silva, S.J., joins host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell for a roundtable discussion on what stood out in the synod document. Ricardo was struck by how the report presented feedback in the respondents’ words, including quotes fr...
Nov 03, 2022•38 min
Host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell dig into three eye-catching Vatican stories this week: First up, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin spoke at a dinner for EWTN’s Europe-based staff, stressing the importance of Catholic media being in communion with the pope rather than “fan[ning] the flames of polarization.” He prayed that a “spirit of communion” with the pope would be “the distinctive sign of your work.” But EWTN’s Spanish-language press agen...
Oct 28, 2022•30 min
On Sunday, Pope Francis announced that the Synod on Synodality will be extended. Instead of one final meeting in the Vatican in October 2023, there will now be two Vatican meetings: One in Oct. 2023 and another in Oct. 2024. This week on “Inside the Vatican,” veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and host Colleen Dulle explain the pope’s reasoning behind this decision, and whether the extension of the synodal process makes this synod, as some have said in recent days, a type of “Vatican...
Oct 20, 2022•25 min
Cathy Harmon-Christian’s SUV has been getting a lot of attention lately. Last year, after a nun and priest friend asked her to work full-time holding listening sessions for the global Synod on Synodality with people on the margins, or outside, of Catholic parish life—who the church might have a hard time reaching—she printed a massive decal of Pope Francis extending his hand in blessing. At the bottom, was a message, which included her email address: “Pope Francis wants to hear from you!” “It wa...
Oct 13, 2022•37 min
Pope Francis dedicated his entire Angelus address this past Sunday, Oct. 2, to denouncing the war in Ukraine. Recent weeks have seen the Ukrainians pushing back Russian forces on the ground, while Russian president Vladimir Putin has escalated his threats, claiming that four Ukrainian regions now belong to Russia, and that Russia will take any attempt to reclaim them as a threat to its territorial integrity. Putin said that in the face of such a so-called invasion, Russia would respond by all me...
Oct 06, 2022•24 min
With reports from at least 112 of the 114 bishops’ conferences around the world, the Synod on Synodality has entered its next phase as 35 laypeople, priests and bishops meet in Frascati, Italy, to discern the outcome of the worldwide listening process that started last October. On “Inside the Vatican” this week, veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell reveals some of the highlights of his interview with Cardinal Mario Grech, the secretary general of the Synod of Bishops. (The interview wa...
Sep 29, 2022•31 min
Pope Francis was in Khazakstan last week for a major Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions—although his visit was overshadowed in the press by criticism from a Khazak bishop, Athanasius Schneider, who said the meeting was “dangerous” and could come off as the pope supporting “a supermarket of religions,” “undermin[ing] the uniqueness and absoluteness of Jesus Christ as savior.” Meanwhile, the Khazak government rolled out the red carpet for the pope, who was the first to attend t...
Sep 22, 2022•28 min
Queen Elizabeth II died last week, Sept. 8, after 70 years on the throne. She was 96 and was England’s longest-reigning monarch. And while most people, when asked to describe the relationship between the papacy and the British monarchy, would likely think of the Henry VIII affair, in reality the relationship between the two heads-of-state-slash-heads-of-churches is quite cordial. On “Inside the Vatican” this week, host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell discuss Quee...
Sep 15, 2022•27 min
Pope Francis called all the world’s cardinals to the Vatican to discuss the reform of Roman offices, called dicasteries. The meeting follows the release of “Praedicate Evangelium,” a document issued earlier this summer outlining new structures and processes for the Catholic Church’s central offices. This week on “Inside the Vatican,” hosts Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell share what went on in the cardinal’s two-day meeting in Rome, and also look into the recent beatification of Pope John Paul...
Sep 08, 2022•33 min
“Inside the Vatican” is back from summer break this week, just as the Vatican wraps up an unusually jam-packed late August. On August 27, Pope Francis created 20 new cardinals, 16 of whom will help choose his successor. On the podcast, host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell recap the appointments and what makes the solemn ceremony relatively simple by Vatican standards. Most of the world’s cardinals came to Rome for the creation of the new cardinals, and stayed for...
Sep 01, 2022•31 min
Pope Francis is about to make a historic visit to Canada, where he will apologize for the harm inflicted on Indigenous peoples through the earliest colonial missions and the more recent operation of residential boarding schools. On this special deep dive episode of Inside the Vatican, we’re looking into the history of residential schools in Canada, the impact they had on survivors, and what Pope Francis’ apology might mean in a long, but important process, of truth-telling and reconciliation. We...
Jul 21, 2022•44 min
Pope Francis, in a wide-ranging interview with Philip Pulella a Reutuers reporter, has announced that he plans to name two women to the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops, the group that helps the pope choose bishops. Until now, only men have served on the Vatican committee responsible for selecting bishops. We don’t know who these women are yet, but we do know the kind of work they’ll be doing—it’s part of the top-secret process of appointing bishops that we explained in a deep dive episode las...
Jul 06, 2022•32 min
Pope Francis was set to visit the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan this week, July 2-9, before his doctors advised against making the trip. But the trip’s postponement doesn’t mean that the Catholic Church’s work for peace in the conflict-torn country is on pause. This week on “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle speaks with Sant’Egidio’s Elizabeth Boyle about the lay group’s efforts to foster peace and friendship in South Sudan. Elizabeth explains the most important facts ab...
Jun 30, 2022•25 min
The World Meeting of Families is happening in Rome this week, and there has been much family-related news out of the Vatican recently. The Vatican has issued new guidance on marriage preparation, saying couples should go through a yearlong program before getting married in the church, and the Vatican’s office of Laity, Family and Life has seen a few big reforms. To learn more about these stories, America Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell recently interviewed Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect ...
Jun 23, 2022•27 min
Pope Francis gave a wide-ranging interview to the editors of the European Jesuit journals—America’s across-the-pond counterparts—that was published this week. In the interview, Pope Francis takes on accusations that he is “pro-Putin” and argues that a failure to accept the Second Vatican Council is at the heart of church polarization today. On “Inside the Vatican” this week, host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell unpack the pope’s interview. Speaking about the war ...
Jun 16, 2022•27 min
Pope Francis’ increasing mobility woes were already leading some to speculate that another papal resignation might soon be on the horizon. [Listen and subscribe to Inside the Vatican on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.] “But then Francis pulls a kind of a rabbit out of the hat,” America Vatican correspondent and “Inside the Vatican” host Gerard O’Connell tells co-host Colleen Dulle in this episode of “Inside the Vatican.” On June 4, the Vatican announced that in the two days between the making of new...
Jun 09, 2022•26 min
