Inside The Vatican

In this week’s episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen and Gerry preview Pope Leo’s planned visit to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, highlighting key events and speeches and discussing Pope Leo’s health ahead of the trip. Sign up for our new newsletter, Vatican Notebook! Chapters: 0:00 Pope Leo voted in the midterm elections 1:07 Pope Leo’s health ahead of the trip 4:40 Why Pope Leo is visiting secu...

In the midst of contentious elections around the world, Pope Leo XIV is preaching unity, both in the Catholic Church and in the world. But what does unity—or “unity in diversity,” as Leo often advocates—look like in practice? Church historian Massimo Faggioli joins host Colleen Dulle to talk about Pope Leo’s effort and tactics for promoting unity and peace. Find Dr. Faggioli’s new book, Leo XIV an...

In this week’s episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Gerry and Colleen evaluate how Pope Leo XIV’s recovery from his lung surgery is progressing and discuss questions of how the operation might affect his immediate future plans. In the second part of the show, they look at Leo’s personal intervention on behalf of a besieged city in Ukraine. Sign up for our new newsletter, Vatican Notebook! Chapters: 0:...

In this week’s episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen and Gerry explain what we know and what still remains unclear regarding Pope Leo XIV’s shocking lung cancer diagnosis. In the second part of the show, they recap the meeting of bishops on Amoris Laetitia and the election of Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle as the new dean of the College of Cardinals. Sign up for our new newsletter, Vatican Noteboo...

In this week’s episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Pope Francis biographer Austen Ivereigh and America executive producer Sebastian Gomes join Colleen Dulle to discuss this week’s Vatican meeting on “Amoris Laetitia,” ten years after Pope Francis published his controversial exhortation on marriage and the family. Austen and Sebastian recap the tense 2014 and 2015 synods on the family, what Pope Franc...

This week on Jesuitical, Colleen Dulle joins hosts Zac Davis and Sebasian Gomes to discuss Pope Leo’s recent visit to France, including his messages on assisted dying, European identity and the role of the Catholic Church in a secular country. Colleen also reflects on her experience of traveling with the pope for the first time. Sign up for Colleen’s newsletter, Vatican Notebook! Chapters: 00:00 F...

In this week’s episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Gerry and Colleen preview Pope Leo XIV’s visit to France, set for Sept. 25-28. The two unpack Pope Leo’s itinerary for the trip, give context for the political situation in the country and discuss what messages the pope may send to both secular and ecclesial authorities in a country and church that are being reshaped by the arrival of newcomers. Sign...

In this week’s episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Gerry and Colleen discuss the “birthday gifts” Pope Leo XIV gave to the Vatican on his 71st birthday: an expansion of the Vatican Library and archives and the repeal of Covid-era salary cuts. The hosts explain Vatican salaries and what has changed financially for the Holy See since the pandemic. In the second part of the show, Colleen and Gerry give...

In this week’s episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Gerry and Colleen take the opportunity of Pope Leo’s 71st birthday on Monday, Sept. 14, to look back at what he has accomplished thus far in his papacy and what major items remain on his desk for the fall, including trips to France and Latin America, a series of high-profile appointments and the ongoing trials of Marko Rupnik and Angelo Becciu. The h...

Pope Leo today received the National Constitution Center’s liberty medal and gave an acceptance speech via livestream from the Vatican. Colleen Dulle recaps his message. Links from the show: Read: Pope Leo’s message to the United States on its 250th anniversary Subscribe to America Magazine (use promo code VATICAN for $10 off an annual digital subscription) Fill out our listener survey! Learn more...

Today, July 2, in response to the SSPX’s illicit ordinations of bishops, the Vatican announced that not only were the bishops involved in the ordination automatically excommunicated and in schism, but that any clergy of SSPX or lay members who “adhere” to the schism are also to be considered excommunicated. Links from the show: The Vatican and SSPX controversy, explained Vatican declares excommuni...

On this season finale of “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen and Gerry discuss the hectic weeks before Pope Leo’s summer vacation. First they recap the pope’s trip to Pavia to visit the remains of St. Augustine and the home of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, his speech to the World Food Program and the Vatican’s denial of the German bishops’ request to allow lay people to preach homilies. They also look ahe...

Pope Leo visited Spain from June 6-12, a visit that drew record-breaking crowds. This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Gerard O’Connell recaps for Colleen Dulle the highlights from the pope’s three stops: Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands. On the last day, Gerry reports, Leo spoke out against those who take advantage of migrants “like I’ve rarely seen him,” shouting, “Stop! Repent!” After this...

Pope Leo’s encyclical ‘Magnifica Humanitas,’ published May 25, has sparked debates in the worlds of technology and theology while galvanizing online creators opposed to artificial intelligence. Anna Rowlands, a theologian and co-presenter of the text with Pope Leo, joins Colleen Dulle to parse the encyclical’s reception, its contributions to Catholic teaching, and whether workers can use the encyc...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell discuss EWTN News President and COO Montserrat “Montse” Alvarado as prefect of the Vatican’s dicastery for communications. They unpack some of the challenges currently facing the dicastery and analyze the appointment in light of the Vatican’s previously strained relationship with EWTN. In the second half of the show, Gerry gives...

This week on a special “Inside the Vatican” roundtable, a discussion of “Magnifica Humanitas,” Pope Leo’s groundbreaking first encyclical on protecting the human person in the age of artificial intelligence. Host Colleen Dulle sits down with her co-host and senior Vatican correspondent, Gerard O’Connell, as well as America’s president and editor in chief, Sam Sawyer, S.J. They discuss the document...

Pope Leo released his encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, on “safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence” today, May 25. (Read the encyclical here. And find America Magazine's extensive coverage of the encyclical here.) Pope Leo presented the encyclical at the Vatican along with the panel of experts, including Christopher Olah, a co-founder of one of the world’s leading AI d...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell look ahead to Pope Leo’s forthcoming encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” which is rumored to be a long document dealing with themes of artificial intelligence and humanity. Ahead of the document’s expected release on May 25, Gerry and Colleen recap what is already known about the document, the Vatican’s previous work on A.I. and...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Gerard O’Connell and Colleen Dulle discuss U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Pope Leo XIV, along with recent developments between the Vatican and the Society of St. Pius X, which has committed to illicitly ordain bishops without the Vatican’s approval. In the second part of the show, Colleen and Gerry look at the pope’s visits to Pompeii and Naples,...

One year ago today, Leo XIV was elected the first pope from the United States of America. A year into his papacy, we examine how the U.S. evolved from a nation with a long history of anti-Catholicism to one welcoming an American-born pope, and why the cardinals defied a longstanding taboo against a pope from a global superpower. Interviews include: - Kathleen Sprows Cummings, the John A. O’Brien C...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Gerry O’Connell gives Colleen Dulle an inside look at Pope Leo XIV’s visit to four African countries. Between speaking out against corruption in Cameroon, denouncing inequality in Angola and visiting a prison in Equatorial Guinea, Gerry notes that Pope Leo never strayed from his central message of peace and justice—even when a Truth Social post from U.S. Presiden...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Archbishop Joseph Marino, former president of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy which trains Vatican diplomats, joins Colleen Dulle to give a crash course on Vatican Diplomacy: Who are nuncios? What do they do? And what difference do they really make? Before the interview, Colleen also gives some updates on the week’s Vatican news. 00:00 Pope Leo wraps his tr...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” America Editor-in-Chief Fr. Sam Sawyer, SJ, joins Vatican Correspondent Colleen Dulle and Executive Editor Ashley McKinless for a roundtable discussion on the recent comments President Trump and other administration officials have made about Pope Leo, and the pope’s response given en route to his tour of four African countries. In the first part of the show, Coll...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen and Gerry recap a packed two weeks of Vatican news, covering Pope Leo’s first Holy Week celebrations and his comments on President Trump’s threat to wipe out ‘an entire civilization.’ After this episode was recorded, reports were published recounting a contentious meeting at the Pentagon between the nuncio to the United States, Cardinal Christophe Pierre,...

In March 2026, the Vatican’s doctrine office released its final report on women’s participation in the life and leadership of the Catholic Church. The report brings to a close the two-year work of Study Group 5, which, as part of the Synod on Synodality, was tasked with studying women’s ministries and leadership. In this special roundtable conversation, editors at America magazine discuss the repo...