Inside The Vatican

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...

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 e...

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,...

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...

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...

On Sunday, May 29, Pope Francis announced he would create 21 new cardinals this year, including American Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego and several other surprise choices. 16 of the new cardinals are under 80 and will be able to vote in a conclave, meaning Pope Francis has now appointed just under two-thirds of the current cardinal-electors. As of December, that number will rise to 69 percent....

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco announced Friday, May 20, that he would bar Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, from receiving holy communion in his diocese, which is also Ms. Pelosi’s home diocese.  His decision comes after a lengthy and polarized debate over the past two years among U.S. bishops over whether to mandate a blanket ban on pro-choice poli...

On May 11, Cardinal Joseph Zen, the 90-year old pro-democracy prelate of Hong Kong, along with three other advocates for democracy in China, were arrested and questioned on accusations that they were “colluding with foreign forces.” Cardinal Zen was released less than a day later. Following his arrest, the Vatican issued a statement in which it said it is “following the development of the situatio...

Pope Francis gave a brief and unexpected interview to James Martin, S.J., for Father Martin’s new L.G.B.T.-focused publication, Outreach, a subsidiary of America Media. In the brief interview, the pope reminds L.G.B.T. Catholics that “God is Father and he does not disown any of his children” and gives advice to those who feel rejected by the church. Father Martin joins host Colleen Dulle on this b...

Despite his hopes to declare victory over Ukraine May 9, Russian president Vladimir Putin instead used his speech that day to rehash his complaint that the West and NATO had forced him to send troops into Ukraine. More surprising was that Pope Francis echoed Putin’s sentiments in an interview that earned him condemnation by the Wall Street Journal editorial board.  This week on “Inside the Vatican...

In a new interview with the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera, Pope Francis revealed some of the details of his communications with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill and Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban. He also reflected on why he chose to appeal publicly to the Russian ambassador to the Holy See to end the war, rather than communicate privately with Russian President Vladimir Puti...

Pope Francis will not visit Kyiv as hoped and has suspended his meeting with Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, planned for July in Jerusalem. In an interview with La Nación, an Argentine daily newspaper, published on April 21, the pope said he had made the decision to suspend his meeting with Kirill because the Holy See’s diplomatic arm advised him that “a reunion betwee...

Catholics worldwide celebrated Holy Week as the latest Russian offensive began in Ukraine. In this episode of Inside the Vatican, host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell examine how the war was addressed in the Vatican’s Holy Week services. Gerry and Colleen explain the controversy that led to one of the Stations of the Cross reflections, which was co-written by a Rus...

Crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square on April 10 for the Vatican’s first public Palm Sunday Mass in two years, and Pope Francis began the busiest liturgical week of the year while still dealing with acute knee pain. Afterwards, he called for an Easter truce in Ukraine. On “Inside the Vatican,” Rome correspondent Gerard O’Connell and host Colleen Dulle discuss Pope Francis’ message of peace and ho...

Last week, Pope Francis apologized to representatives of the First Nations, Métis and Inuit people for the Catholic Church’s role in Canada’s residential schools that suppressed Indigenous culture and were often the site of abuse. This week on “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell discuss what the apology meant to Indigenous leaders. Pope Francis also...

This week, Pope Francis is meeting with leaders of the First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people who have traveled to Rome from Canada. They want to tell the pope about their experiences at the state-funded, church-run residential schools that took indigenous children from their communities in an effort to assimilate them to the dominant Canadian culture. Last year, the country and the church were sh...

On Saturday, March 19, unexpectedly and with no fanfare, the Vatican published the new 54-page constitution for the Roman Curia, called “Praedicate Evangelium” or “Preach the Gospel.” Among other changes, it made evangelization the Vatican’s top office, opened leadership of top Vatican offices to any baptized Catholic, and made the protection of minors a permanent part of the Dicastery for the Doc...

As Russian airstrikes on Ukraine continue and its ground efforts meet fierce resistance from the Ukrainian army, the Vatican is stepping up its efforts for peace. On this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and host Colleen Dulle discuss Pope Francis’ latest moves, including Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin’s call with the Russian forei...

When Benedict XVI resigned as pope, he broke with 600 years of tradition and reshaped the papacy—possibly forever. As people live longer, it is likely future popes will be more willing to follow Benedict XVI’s example instead of remaining and dying in office. But Benedict’s self-professed intention to be “hidden from the world” has hardly gone according to plan. A collection of controversies inclu...

As a Russian military convoy, 40 miles long, makes its way to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, Pope Francis is fighting for peace in Rome. The pope warned against going down the road of conflict, appealed for negotiated settlements, and called for believers worldwide to fast and pray for peace in Ukraine on Ash Wednesday. And it’s not only the pope’s words that speak here, but his actions.  Pope Fra...

Russian troops entered two breakaway regions of Eastern Ukraine on Monday, Feb. 21 and launched a full-scale invasion on Thursday, Feb. 24. The day before Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia took the decision to initiate war in Ukraine. Pope Francis called for all people to pray and fast for peace in Ukraine on Ash Wednesday, March 2. It was the second time the pope has called for a day of pra...

Pope Francis has restructured the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican’s central doctrine office, which also investigates sexual abuse cases that are reported to Rome. With the pope’s Feb. 14 declaration, which goes into effect immediately, the discipline part of the Congregation will become its own section, with its own secretary, separate from the doctrine section. And the doc...

Two weeks after the release of a report that accused Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI of mishandling sexual abuse cases when he was the archbishop of Munich and Freising, the former pope responded in a brief letter published Feb. 8 by the Vatican. "I have had great responsibilities in the Catholic Church,” Benedict XVI writes. “All the greater is my pain for the abuses and the errors that occurred in th...

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has responded to accusations that he mishandled four cases of clerical sexual abuse when he was archbishop of Munich and Freising. His response came 20 days after a German law firm released its investigation into how abuse cases in the diocese were handled over a 74-year period. Benedict’s response today is brief, 1.5 pages, most of it dedicated to asking for forgiveness...

An investigation, last month, into sexual abuse in the German archdiocese of Munich and Freising found that when Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI served as its archbishop he had mishandled cases of sexual abuse committed by members of his clergy. His successors in Munich, Cardinal Friedrich Wetter and Cardinal Reinhard Marx, have also been accused of mishandling cases of sexual abuse.   This week on “In...