Inside The Vatican

On May 9, Pope Francis issued a papal bull proclaiming the 2025 Jubilee Year. The document, resembling a social encyclical, urges nations to grant amnesty to prisoners and calls on the world’s most powerful entities to forgive the debts of poor countries. Can Pope Francis’ calls match the impact of John Paul II’s in the Jubilee of 2000? Later, Colleen shares her review of reports from a global syn...

As the war in the Holy Land continues to escalate and protests break out on university campuses around the world, Pope Francis persists in his calls for peace. But is it possible? Where does peace begin? This week on “Inside the Vatican,” David Neuhaus, S.J., an Israeli priest who teaches Scripture in Israel and Palestine, joins hosts Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell for a conversation on what h...

Pope Francis made history by becoming the first pope to attend the iconic Venice Biennale cultural festival in its 128-year history. After a Vatican-sponsored exhibition at a women’s prison, he met with inmates and staff before celebrating Mass in St. Mark’s Square. Looking ahead, host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican reporter Gerard O’Connell preview the pope’s forthcoming visits to Italian citi...

“A negotiated peace is better than a war without end,” said Pope Francis in an exclusive interview with CBS Evening News anchor Norah O’Donnell, marking the first such interview for network television in the U.S. Amid conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, the pope advocated for global peace. The full interview airs May 19 on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” covering topics such as child welfare, women’s roles, L.G.B....

After being removed by Pope Francis as head of the papal household, evicted from his Vatican apartment and returned to his native diocese in Germany, Archbishop Georg Gänswein is reportedly set to be appointed as a nuncio, or papal ambassador. On this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and host Colleen Dulle analyze the reported forthcoming appointment...

The Vatican released a document on human dignity this week with sections denouncing what it calls “gender theory” and “sex change.” In this special round table episode of “Inside the Vatican,” America’s Editor-in-Chief Fr. Sam Sawyer, S.J. and the Executive Director of Outreach, America’s LGBT Catholic resource, Michael O’Loughlin, join host Colleen Dulle for a discussion on the document “Dignitas...

This week, the Vatican issued a new document on human dignity. Although it primarily reiterates established Catholic teaching on various topics, it has already become controversial because of its condemnations of gender theory, sex change efforts, and surrogate motherhood. On this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell analyze the doc...

Catholics from the pews to the pope are worried about young priests. The October 2023 synod recommended a number of changes to the seminary system, but to understand them, one first needs to understand how priests are formed, and how that process has undergone major changes in recent years. In this special “Deep Dive” episode of “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle speaks to seminarians, recto...

As Catholics around the world observe Holy Week, the hosts of “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell, take a look at Pope Francis’ Holy Week plans. In the second half of the show, Gerry and Colleen discuss Gerry’s recent interview with Vatican Secretary for Relations with States, Archbishop Paul Gallagher. Colleen also gives updates on a recent meeting between the German bishops...

The Vatican announced the creation of 10 study groups to focus on themes that arose at last October’s Synod on Synodality, an announcement that prompted mixed reactions: Are the groups a way to “kick the can down the road,” on controversial questions like the possibility of ordaining women deacons, asks host Colleen Dulle, or are they the beginning of a new, synodal way of making decisions in the...

Over the weekend, Pope Francis was strongly criticized by Ukrainian civil and church leaders for a comment he made in an interview, saying that Ukraine needed “the courage of the white flag” to negotiate with Russia for peace. On this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and host Colleen Dulle examine the pope’s comments, give an update on the Holy See’s...

Anglican Bishop Jo Bailey Wells spoke at a meeting of Pope Francis’ Council of Cardinal Advisors on Feb. 5., about her own experience as an ordained woman in the Church of England and the journey her church  took before reaching the decision to ordain women. She was one of two women to present at the meeting, the second in a series of encounters with women theologians that Sister Linda Pocher, F.M...

Five years after Pope Francis convened a global summit on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, two previously anonymous alleged victims of Father Marko Rupnik decided to speak out about their experiences. On “Inside the Vatican,” guest host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., recaps the Rupnik case before interviewing veteran Vatican reporter Gerard O’Connell about a press conference held on Feb. 21 at the Ro...

This week, the Vatican is relatively quiet, as Pope Francis and the top Roman Curia officials make their Lenten retreat. As he has done since 2021, the pope has asked each official to make their retreat individually, centered on private prayer and spiritual exercises. Austen Ivereigh’s latest book, First Belong to God: On Retreat with Pope Francis, helps all people of faith do just that. The autho...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” producer Ricardo da Silva—filling in for host Colleen Dulle—joins veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell to discuss what Gerry is calling “Argentine Weekend” at the Vatican. This past weekend brought the canonization of Argentina’s first woman saint, along with a surprisingly warm meeting between the pope and Argentina’s new, ultraconservative president J...

In this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell recap the recent Anglican-Catholic summit that took place in Rome and Canterbury, England. Gerry explains what he sees as the major shift in Anglican-Catholic dialogue from theological discussion to concrete action under Pope Francis. In part two of the episode, Colleen and Gerry analyze...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” veteran correspondent Gerard O’Connell and host Colleen Dulle discuss Pope Francis’ recent interview with the Italian daily newspaper La Stampa. There, the pope opens up about his feelings of loneliness and once more reaffirms his defense of the Vatican’s declaration approving blessings for couples in “irregular situations.” In the second half of the show, Collee...

In this episode, Gerard O’Connell and Colleen Dulle discuss Pope Francis’ recent meeting with journalists, exploring his views on journalism and comparing them to past popes. They also parse the pope’s comments about declining birth rates across much of Europe and address the politicization of the issue and his call for global economic reforms that promote and support the well-being of young famil...

On Dec. 18, Pope Francis opened the possibility for priests to bless same-sex couples and couples who the church considers to be living in what it calls “irregular” situations. In this roundtable episode of “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle, Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell, and America national correspondent Michael J. O’Loughlin dive into “Fiducia Supplicans,” the Vatican’s declarat...

In their first episode of the new year, veteran Vatican reporter Gerard O’Connell and host Colleen Dulle dissect Pope Francis’ “State of the World” address and reveal his plans for 2024, including significant international trips, high-level Vatican appointments, and the opening of Jubilee Year 2025. Find the full episode page and links for further reading here. Please support this podcast by becom...

A Vatican tribunal has sentenced Cardinal Angelo Becciu to five and a half years in prison, the first such sentence in at least 500 years. This week on Inside the Vatican, veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and host Colleen Dulle explain the financial scandal that led to the trial, the dramatic revelations that emerged throughout it, and what happens next—both to Cardinal Becciu and wi...

On Monday Dec. 18, the Vatican’s doctrinal office issued a declaration stating that priests can bless same-sex couples as long as the blessing does not resemble a marriage or coincide with a civil union ceremony. This declaration follows up on a controversial 2021 response from the dicastery that stated same-sex unions could not be blessed in a liturgical context. The new declaration does not over...

In this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle is joined by Mike Lewis, the editor in chief of Where Peter Is, a blog site dedicated to countering criticism of Pope Francis from the small but vocal resistance in the U.S. church.  In the wake of Pope Francis’ recent decisions to remove Bishop Joseph Strickland from his diocese in Tyler, Tex. and revoke Cardinal Raymond Burke’s salary a...

Pope Francis canceled his trip to the United Nations’ COP28 climate conference due to his ongoing bout of bronchitis. In this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and host Colleen Dulle discuss the Pope's health and his message on climate change.  Colleen and Gerry also cover Pope Francis' decision to cut Cardinal Raymond Burke's salary from the Vatican’s...

The synod delegates have returned home and the round tables have been put away. So now, a month after the first Roman meeting of the Synod on Synodality, many Catholics are left wondering: What just happened? This deep dive episode of “Inside the Vatican” explains the key events and dynamics of the synod, combining recordings from synod events with a diverse selection of interviews, inviting you t...