On Monday, Feb. 3, the Vatican hosted its first International Summit on Children’s Rights, which Pope Francis called an “open observatory” for children’s protection in an attempt to showcase “the reality of childhood throughout the world, a childhood that is unfortunately often hurt, exploited, denied.” In this week’s episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen and Gerry dive into the goals of the summit and unpack Pope Francis’ plan to write a papal document dedicated to children, described as an attempt “to give continuity to this commitment and promote it throughout the church.”

In the second half of the episode, Colleen and Gerry discuss Pope Francis’ call for a common date for Easter among all Christian Churches in 2025, which he announced during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity from Jan. 19-25. As it happens, the churches will share a common date this year on Apr. 20, 2025.  

Please support this podcast by becoming a digital subscriber to America Media.

Find links for further reading here.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices