Inside The Vatican

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 and Vatican officials over the controversial “Synodal Way” project, and on Pope Francis’ Holy Week letter to Catholics living in the Holy Land.

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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 church?

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen and Gerry discuss the study groups along with new appointments to the Pontifical Council for the Protection of Minors, and Pope Francis’ new book, Life, My Story Through History.

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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 diplomatic push for peace both in Ukraine and Gaza, and talk about what’s next for Pope Francis on this 11th anniversary of his election.

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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.A., is arranging for the pope’s cabinet, aimed at looking more deeply at the role of women in the church between the 2023 and 2024 sessions of the Synod on Synodality.

Bishop Wells joins host Colleen Dulle to discuss her experience addressing Pope Francis and his closest advisors.

Find a text version of this interview in lieu of our usual show page here.

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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 Rome headquarters of the Italian National Press Federation. There, Gloria Branciani and Mirjam Kovac publicly discussed the alleged abuses they endured, imploring Vatican authorities to be transparent regarding the ongoing investigation by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Gerry reports that the dicastery has interviewed all the alleged victims and has all but concluded its investigation. “He risks, I understand, being removed from the priesthood,” Gerry says. “But, at the end of the day, because of the process that is underway in the dicastery, it’ll be the pope who has to make that final decision.”

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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 author joins host Colleen Dulle this week to discuss his proposed retreat, as well as his experience covering Pope Francis both as a journalist and now—with his latest book—as a spiritual writer. He also shares his plans for his third biography of the present pope, focussed on the pope’s trajectory since the Covid-19 pandemic.

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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 Javier Milei. The hosts also debrief the story of “Mama Antula,” the new Argentine saint Pope Francis canonized this weekend.

In the second half of the show, Gerry and Ricardo analyze the pope’s meeting with his council of cardinal advisors, to which a female Anglican bishop was invited to speak about women’s ordination.

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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 a letter Pope Francis sent to Israeli Jews. Why did the pope choose to address a religious group within Israel, rather than the entire nation?

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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, Colleen and Gerry explore the appointment of three new bishops and the approval of a new diocese in China, actions that indicate rapid developments in the Vatican’s complex relationship with China.

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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 families.

Find the full episode page and links for further reading here.

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