On Jan. 6, Pope Francis announced that Cardinal Robert McElroy will be the next archbishop of Washington, D.C. Cardinal McElroy, currently the bishop of San Diego, spoke with Zac and Ashley on the “Jesuitical” podcast back in 2023, and this week, they’re revisiting that conversation. In it, Cardinal McElroy embraces the synodal vision and pastoral approach of Pope Francis and calls upon the church to dismantle the “structures and cultures of exclusion” that alienate some Catholics, including women, the poor, divorced-and-remarried couples and L.G.B.T. Catholics.

 Zac, Ashley and Cardinal McElroy discuss: 

- Cardinal McElroy’s 2023 article in America on the Eucharist and radical inclusion for L.G.B.T. people, women and others

- Why synodality is the connective tissue of the Catholic faith that enables us to work through disagreements in communion 

- How to handle polarization in the church on issues like sexuality, marriage, racism and poverty

In Signs of the Times, Zac and Ashley discuss President Joe Biden’s decision to commute the death sentences of 37 of the 40 prisoners on federal death row to a sentence of life in prison without parole; Pope Francis’ appointment of Italian missionary nun Sister Simona Brambilla as the first woman to lead a major Vatican dicastery; and the exciting news that a soccer-loving Catholic nun from Brazil is officially the oldest living person at nearly 117. 

Links for further reading: 

Cardinal McElroy to lead D.C. archdiocese, Vatican announces

Cardinal McElroy on ‘radical inclusion’ for L.G.B.T. people, women and others in the Catholic Church

Biden commutes 37 death row sentences before Trump can resume executions

A woman leads a Vatican office for the first time ever. Why now?

Historic first: Pope Francis appoints woman as prefect of Vatican dicastery

A soccer-loving nun from Brazil is world’s oldest living person at nearly 117

Zac’s New Year’s recommendation: What if you're already on top of things?

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