Inside The Vatican

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 Sta...

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....

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...

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...

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 describ...

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 ah...

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...

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’,...

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...

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...

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 an...

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...

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 be...

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...

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...

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 Fran...

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 “I...

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. Th...

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 ri...

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...

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...

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 f...

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 Fran...

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 i...

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...