Holy Smoke

This is a picture of my sister Carmel and I having tea a few days after our mother’s funeral. She looks cheerful, doesn’t she? That’s because she was: although we both missed our mother intensely, and always will, we had done most of our grieving before she died, as we watched her tortured by Parkinson’s disease and severe dementia. 

Carmel looks well, too. And she thought she was. Ovarian cancer plays that trick on women. The first symptoms tend to be annoying rather than alarming. A few weeks after this photograph was taken, I was reassuring her that Irritable Bowel Syndrome is a common response to bereavement – which it is. But that’s not what was wrong with her. On November 1, I was sitting next to her in the consulting room at Guy’s Hospital when the specialist confirmed that she had advanced ovarian cancer. 

Carmel is my guest on today’s Holy Smoke podcast. Please listen to it. I guarantee that you’ll be surprised by what she has to say. And you will understand why I’m so proud of my sister.

Presented by Damian Thompson.

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With Father Alexander Lucie-Smith, moral theologian, and Lara Prendergast, Assistant Editor of the Spectator.

Presented by Damian Thompson.

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Just how much do those at the highest echelons of the Vatican know about former Archbishop McCarrick's sexual abuse through the years? Has Pope Francis been turning a blind eye to abuse carried out by his favourites, and will this be the end of his papacy?

Damian Thompson talks to author Henry Sire.

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With Hardeep Singh, journalist and press officer for Lord Singh of Wimbledon.

Presented by Damian Thompson.

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The Catholic church is reeling from its most significant sex abuse scandal for many years. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, retired Archbishop of Washington DC, has been suspended from ministry following a wave of detailed allegations that he molested seminarians. 

Damian Thompson is joined by Ed Condon

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The young atheist writer Guy Stagg threw in his job a few years ago to undertake a pilgrimage to Jerusalem via Rome - choosing a hazardous medieval route across the Alps. It nearly killed him: at one stage, trying to cross a broken bridge in Switzerland, he ended up partially submerged in the water, held up only by his rucksack. 

On this week’s Holy Smoke podcast, Guy explains why his journey was a pilgrimage, not just travels. And Damian talks to Harry Mount, editor of The Oldie, why he’s irresistibly drawn to church buildings while remaining an unbeliever - albeit an agnostic rather than an atheist.

Presented by Damian Thompson.

Produced by Connor O'Hara and Cindy Yu.

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‘Juan Carlos, that you are gay does not matter. God made you like this and loves you like this and I don’t care. The pope loves you like this. You have to be happy with who you are.'

These are the words allegedly spoken by Pope Francis to a Chilean man. He appears to have pressed the 'delete' button on the Church's teaching that homosexuality is 'intrinsically disordered'. In this Holy Smoke, Damian Thompson talks to Father Alexander Lucie-Smith, in a frank and sensitive discussion on homosexuality and the Church.

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This summer, adherents of our national quasi-religion are marking the 70th anniversary of its foundation by St Aneurin Bevan. How did a secular model of delivering health care acquire this aura of holiness? 

Dr Max Pemberton and the Spectator's Deputy Editor, Freddy Gray talk to Damian Thompson.

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With Tony Trowbridge.

Presented by Damian Thompson.

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With Ysenda Maxtone Graham, author of the Church Hesitant and regular contributor to The Spectator.

Read her article here: https://specc.ie/2q9OztD.

Presented by Damian Thompson.

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