Inside The Vatican

At a meeting of the French bishops’ conference, a letter from Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard was read aloud, in which the cardinal admitted that he had “conducted himself in a reprehensible fashion” with a 14 year old girl, adding, “My behavior necessarily caused in this person grave and lasting consequences.”

On “Inside the Vatican” this week, host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell explain what is known about the case. Cardinal Ricard was up to now a member of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Vatican office tasked with investigating abuse cases, though it isn’t clear whether Cardinal Ricard himself ever investigated a case.

The French church is currently reeling from a series of major abuse revelations. First, a report released last fall looked into sexual abuse of minors in Catholic institutions and estimated that up to 330,000 minors had been abused since 1950. More recently, there’s been the case of Bishop Michel Santier, who retired as bishop of Creteil in 2020 citing health reasons. It was recently revealed that he was actually removed by the Vatican for “using his influence over two young adult men for sexual purposes” and abusing the sacrament of confession by holding “striptease confessions.” Colleen and Gerry discuss the lack of transparency in all these cases.

In the second half of the show, Gerry and Colleen discuss Pope Francis’ trip to Bahrain over the weekend, where he attended an interreligious gathering, the “Bahrain Forum for Dialogue: East and West for Human Coexistence.” The hosts view the trip in the context of Pope Francis’ relationship with the Sunni Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, who also attended the meeting and with whom the pope wrote a milestone 2019 document on human fraternity.

Links from the show:

French cardinal admits to abusing teen girl 35 years ago

Pope Francis in Bahrain: What to know and expect

Pope Francis slams ‘childlike’ whims of powerful that start wars as Putin’s invasion of Ukraine rages on

In Bahrain, Pope Francis calls for full religious freedom and an end to the death penalty

Pope: ‘Every time a woman comes in to do a job in the Vatican, things get better’

Pope Francis: 'Three world wars in one century: be pacifists!' (Full press conference text)

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The first global report for the Synod on Synodality came out last week, and it’s the Vatican’s first official word on what they’ve been hearing in listening sessions since August 2021.

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” producer Ricardo da Silva, S.J., joins host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell for a roundtable discussion on what stood out in the synod document. Ricardo was struck by how the report presented feedback in the respondents’ words, including quotes from more than 70 countries, and how it raised issues that had previously been taboo. Gerry, on the other hand, thinks little was surprising in the report, and emphasizes how the document was to be read “with the eyes of the disciple.” Colleen describes how the report pulled no punches when discussing sexism in the church.

In the second part of the show, the hosts have a lively discussion on their differing views of the document, hashing out questions of what magisterial standing the document has, if any. Ricardo, a Jesuit priest, reflects on the significant questions that the synodal process raises for priests, after the document strongly criticized clericalism and pointed out low synod participation rates by priests. The three hosts together discuss the report’s section on liturgical reform—something that touches the life of every Catholic.

Links from the show:

Read the global synod report (Document for the Continental Phase)

Making the church more inclusive while staying true to teaching: Vatican releases synod’s synthesis document

Deep dive: The ‘Synod on Synodality’ — What’s done and what comes next?

I helped write the first global synod document. Here’s what we heard from Catholics around the world.

Pope Francis will be the first pope to visit Bahrain

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Host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell dig into three eye-catching Vatican stories this week: First up, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin spoke at a dinner for EWTN’s Europe-based staff, stressing the importance of Catholic media being in communion with the pope rather than “fan[ning] the flames of polarization.” He prayed that a “spirit of communion” with the pope would be “the distinctive sign of your work.” But EWTN’s Spanish-language press agency ACI Prensa ran a headline that, Gerry says, surprised many in the Vatican: “Cardinal Pietro Parolin defines EWTN as ‘a work of God at the service of truth.’”

The Vatican released the full text of Cardinal Parolin’s speech two days later, which showed that the quote from the headline had been taken out of context. “They [the Vatican] didn’t comment on the headline or anything, but you didn't have to be a genius to understand that this was a direct response,” Gerry says on this week’s episode of “Inside the Vatican.”

Up next, Colleen and Gerry turn to the story of the Jesuit historian Peter Gumpel, who spent his long career shepherding saints’ causes through the Vatican’s canonization process. A few days after his death on Oct. 12, America ran a story by someone who had known Father Gumpel, who wrote: “Peter’s last name, Gumpel, was a pseudonym. He told me the family name he was born with—the family he was born into—was Hohenzollern, the royal dynasty of kings and princes, electors and emperors (1871-1918) who ruled all or parts of Germany and Romania beginning in the 11th century, a royal family that continues to this day.” Gerry also knew Father Gumpel well, and weighs in with his take on the Jesuit’s secret identity.

Finally, the hosts turn to the long-enduring mystery of the disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi, a 15-year-old girl who lived in the Vatican. The still-unsolved case has caught new attention thanks to a Netflix true-crime documentary series. Colleen gives an update on the series’ new revelations, and Gerry weighs in on what it’s been like watching the case unfold in Rome over several decades.

Links from the show:

Vatican cardinal tells EWTN: Catholic media must be in communion with pope

Full text of Cardinal Parolin’s speech

The final secret of the Vatican’s Jesuit saint maker

A deep dive into the secret archives of Pope Pius XII

‘Vatican Girl’: Netflix’s true-crime documentary on the Holy See’s 40-year-old missing person mystery

The Vatican and China renew agreement on appointing bishops for third time

Making the church more inclusive while staying true to teaching: Vatican releases synod’s synthesis document

I helped write the first global synod document. Here’s what we heard from Catholics around the world.

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On Sunday, Pope Francis announced that the Synod on Synodality will be extended. Instead of one final meeting in the Vatican in October 2023, there will now be two Vatican meetings: One in Oct. 2023 and another in Oct. 2024.

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and host Colleen Dulle explain the pope’s reasoning behind this decision, and whether the extension of the synodal process makes this synod, as some have said in recent days, a type of “Vatican III.”

[Missed our deep dive episode on the Synod on Synodality? Listen here!]

The hosts also discuss what message Pope Francis is sending by extending the synod: Is it a sign he does not intend to resign, an effort to ensure synodality continues with future popes, or simply a declaration that becoming a “listening church” is one of his top priorities?

In the second part of the show, Colleen and Gerry discuss the pope’s new book, I Ask You in the Name of God. Ten Prayers for a Future of Hope. Colleen explains the papal speech on economics that the book is based on, and Gerry gives his takeaways from the volume. The hosts revisit the question of where books like these fall in the hierarchy of papal teachings.

After this show was recorded, America published a report by Kenneth Woodward on the secret identity of a Jesuit who shepherded more than 150 canonization causes through the church’s saint-making process. Read “The final secret of the Vatican’s Jesuit saint maker” here.

Links from the show:

Deep dive: The ‘Synod on Synodality’ — What’s done and what comes next?

Pope Francis’ 9 commandments for a just economy

WATCH: The Pope, the Environmental Crisis, and Frontline Leaders | The Letter: Laudato Si Film on YouTube

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Cathy Harmon-Christian’s SUV has been getting a lot of attention lately. Last year, after a nun and priest friend asked her to work full-time holding listening sessions for the global Synod on Synodality with people on the margins, or outside, of Catholic parish life—who the church might have a hard time reaching—she printed a massive decal of Pope Francis extending his hand in blessing. At the bottom, was a message, which included her email address: “Pope Francis wants to hear from you!” 

“It was bigger than my window, unfortunately,” Ms. Harmon-Christian said, “so I did have to do some maneuvering.” The sign covers the back window of her Subaru and extends onto the door below.

And it worked: Ms. Harmon-Christian received emails from people who saw her driving around Atlanta. She was stopped at the gas station and even had a listening session with her mechanic, who had left the Catholic Church to become Evangelical.

Ms. Harmon-Christian’s listening work was not limited to those she encountered on the road. She has held listening sessions on Zoom, in cafés, outdoors with people experiencing homelessness, and even received a long letter from a prison inmate in Texas. Although she has not received confirmation that the results of her listening sessions were accepted by either her diocese or the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops—her 600-page report far exceeds each diocese’s 10-page limit—she has received messages of support from Vatican officials, who have encouraged her to continue her work.

So, why is the Vatican gathering all of this feedback from people like Ms. Harmon-Christian and others around the world?

For a new deep dive episode of “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell interviewed three officials in the Vatican’s synod office, along with Catholics like Ms. Harmon-Christian, who are holding listening sessions around the world. Colleen also spoke with someone who is more critical of the synod. All this to help explain the Vatican’s Synod on Synodality—what its puzzling name means and what it’s meant to accomplish.

Links from the show:

Gerard O’Connell | Exclusive: Cardinal Grech on drafting the first global synod synthesis—and what’s in store for phase 2

Gerard O’Connell | Cardinal Grech: The synod ‘needs time’ on the question of married priests

Colleen Dulle | Explainer: So, what exactly is a synod?

Colleen Dulle and Doug Girardot | We contacted every diocese in the U.S. about their synod plans. Here’s what we found.

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Pope Francis dedicated his entire Angelus address this past Sunday, Oct. 2, to denouncing the war in Ukraine. Recent weeks have seen the Ukrainians pushing back Russian forces on the ground, while Russian president Vladimir Putin has escalated his threats, claiming that four Ukrainian regions now belong to Russia, and that Russia will take any attempt to reclaim them as a threat to its territorial integrity. Putin said that in the face of such a so-called invasion, Russia would respond by all means necessary–including using nuclear weapons.

The Vatican has responded to the war so far by advocating peace and focusing on sending humanitarian aid. But the pope’s response has been criticized on the world stage for being too soft on Russia; for example, after he said that NATO had been “barking at Russia’s gate” before the invasion, or when he prayed for a Russian civilian killed by Ukrainian forces, who had in turn been used for Russian propaganda.

This week on Inside the Vatican, host Colleen Dulle interviews Joe Donnelly, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See—President Biden’s representative to the Vatican. We talk about the anguish the pope is clearly feeling over Ukraine, and how Ambassador Donnelly navigates working with the Vatican, even when its approach and goals differ from those of the United States.

Links from the show:

Gerard O’Connell | Interview: U.S.-Vatican Ambassador Joe Donnelly on Ukraine, China and his meeting with Pope Francis

Colleen Dulle | Review: When popes play peacemaker (Review of God’s Diplomats)

Gerard O’Connell | Pope Francis makes dramatic appeal to Putin: Stop the war in Ukraine

Victor Gaetan | What critics of Pope Francis’ NATO comments don’t understand about Vatican diplomacy

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With reports from at least 112 of the 114 bishops’ conferences around the world, the Synod on Synodality has entered its next phase as 35 laypeople, priests and bishops meet in Frascati, Italy, to discern the outcome of the worldwide listening process that started last October. 

On “Inside the Vatican” this week, veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell reveals some of the highlights of his interview with Cardinal Mario Grech, the secretary general of the Synod of Bishops. (The interview was conducted for an upcoming deep dive episode on the synod which will be released on your “Inside the Vatican” podcast feed next month.) 

“The Pope is very keen that the synods and the synod process is not hijacked by pressure groups,” Gerry said. “In fact,” Gerry tells host and producer Colleen Dulle, “the cardinal said to me… I said, ‘Are you afraid of pressure groups: people with an agenda who want to get it through these?’ And he said, ‘I’m not afraid of these, but I hope if it’s going to be hijacked, it’s going to be hijacked by the Holy Spirit.’”

This week, Pope Francis also announced the first in what is expected to be a series of major personnel changes in high-ranking positions at the Vatican. Cardinal José Tolentino Calaça de Mendonça, a 56-year-old Portuguese prelate, is the first head of a newly created Vatican department known as the Dicastery for Education and Culture, combining what were previously two separate departments. 

Cardinal Tolentino is a lauded poet, author and theologian in his native Portugal. He has received numerous literary prizes and academic accolades and rose to prominence in the Vatican when the pope invited him to preach the Lenten retreat for Vatican staff in 2018. “Pope Francis is clearly a big fan of this cardinal,” Colleen tells Gerry. Though, she adds, “I think that he is more popular in other parts of the world than in the United States.” 

“It's a perfect fit in many ways,” says Gerry of Pope Francis’ appointment of Cardinal Tolentino to the new culture and education department. “He is a polyglot and he really has an open vision, and he is completely on the page of Pope Francis.… a church that is open, that is inclusive, that is not condemnatory, that's trying to encourage, not to discourage, that's trying to open doors, not to close doors.”

Links from the show:

Pope Francis names Portuguese cardinal new head of Vatican office for Culture and Education

Italy could elect its first woman prime minister—and its most right-wing government since becoming a republic

Videos from inside the Frascati Synod meeting

Exclusive: Cardinal Grech on drafting the first global synod synthesis—and what’s in store for phase 2

Cardinal Grech: The synod ‘needs time’ on the question of married priests

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Pope Francis was in Khazakstan last week for a major Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions—although his visit was overshadowed in the press by criticism from a Khazak bishop, Athanasius Schneider, who said the meeting was “dangerous” and could come off as the pope supporting “a supermarket of religions,” “undermin[ing] the uniqueness and absoluteness of Jesus Christ as savior.”

Meanwhile, the Khazak government rolled out the red carpet for the pope, who was the first to attend the international congress, although John Paul II and Benedict XVI had been invited in past years. The nation’s foreign minister also signed an agreement with his Vatican counterpart to make it easier for Catholic missionaries to enter the country.

On “Inside the Vatican” this week, veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and host Colleen Dulle give an update on what happened at the meeting, and why Bishop Schneider disapproved of it.

In the second part of the show, the hosts turn to Ukraine, where Pope Francis’ almoner, or almsgiver, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, came under fire while delivering aid in a war zone near Zaporizhzhia. He emerged unscathed and was able to bring food, other aid, and rosaries blessed by the pope to the soldiers and civilians there.

Colleen and Gerry discuss the aid the Vatican has provided to Ukraine and examine how Pope Francis parsed the morality of delivering arms to Ukraine when speaking with a German journalist over the weekend. How do his comments advocating self-defense square with his past denunciations of the arms trade?

Links from the show:

Pope Francis in Kazakhstan: ‘How many deaths will it take’ for peace to prevail in Ukraine?

‘There is only one true religion’: Kazakh bishop says his criticisms of Pope Francis’ interfaith outreach are a sign of collegiality

Pope Francis, asked about Ukraine, says nations can buy weapons for self-defense under right moral conditions

Review: When popes play peacemaker

Gunmen fire upon Cardinal Krajewski in Ukraine

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Queen Elizabeth II died last week, Sept. 8, after 70 years on the throne. She was 96 and was England’s longest-reigning monarch. And while most people, when asked to describe the relationship between the papacy and the British monarchy, would likely think of the Henry VIII affair, in reality the relationship between the two heads-of-state-slash-heads-of-churches is quite cordial.

On “Inside the Vatican” this week, host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell discuss Queen Elizabeth II’s relationship with the five popes she met as queen, her role as a religious leader, and what we can expect in terms of Vatican relations from the reign of King Charles III.

Up next, Pope Francis traveled to Kazakhstan this week for an international congress of the leaders of world and traditional religions—that is, the world’s major religions and some that have a more regionally-specific history, like Indigenous religions. The pope is expected to use his speech at the congress and his meetings with other religious leaders to make the case for peace, a poignant message in a nation that borders Russia.

Colleen and Gerry discuss the political buzz around the visit, as well as the history of the nation’s tiny Catholic minority. Gerry gives his impressions of the country from 2001, when he covered Pope John Paul II’s visit there just ten days after the September 11 attacks on the United States, and explains how Pope Francis’ message of interreligious cooperation has extended even farther than past popes’.

Finally, Gerry and Colleen look at the pope’s health: After canceling his scheduled visits to Lebanon and South Sudan, and not traveling to Ukraine as he had hoped to do, why has the pope decided to make this trip?

Links from the show:

Queen Elizabeth turned privilege into a life of Christian service

What Catholics need to know about Kazakhstan before Pope Francis’ visit

Pope Francis heads to Kazakh interfaith congress—without hope for a meeting with Patriarch Kirill

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Pope Francis called all the world’s cardinals to the Vatican to discuss the reform of Roman offices, called dicasteries. The meeting follows the release of “Praedicate Evangelium,” a document issued earlier this summer outlining new structures and processes for the Catholic Church’s central offices. 

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” hosts Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell share what went on in the cardinal’s two-day meeting in Rome, and also look into the recent beatification of Pope John Paul I, who led the church for a mere 33 days before his sudden death. 

While the cardinals were still in Rome, Gerry took the opportunity to talk with many of them about what unfolded in their closed meeting with the pope and after meeting many of their brother cardinals for the first time. 

Gerry also shares details of his exclusive interview with Cardinal Robert McElroy, the bishop of San Diego, who is now the newest prelate from the United States, and the key themes he saw emerging from the meeting. Colleen stresses the importance of knowing, as a lay person, what happens at these meetings inside Vatican walls. “I think it's helpful for us to know that these conversations that we've been having and that anybody who's following this synodal process are having, about this tension between synodality and hierarchy,” Colleen tells Gerry. “Those conversations are also being had among the Cardinals in the halls of the Vatican.”

In the final half of the show, Gerry sets the scene for the beatification ceremony of Pope John Paul I that took place at a ceremony in St, Peter’s Square this past Sunday, Sept. 4, 2022. Blessed John Paul I was the last Italian pope to be elected over a period of 400 years. Gerry shares a few personal anecdotes about the man who was affectionately known as “the smiling pope,” and what it was like to be there at his installation.

This week’s show closes with a discussion about the politics and economics of saint-making. And given the controversies that have arisen since the rapid canonization of Pope John Paul II and the subsequent release of the McCarrick report—which reveals that the polish pope knew about some of the accusations of abuse against Mr. McCarrick—Colleen, again, asks an important question: “Should we really be canonizing these recent popes?” 

Read more:

Exclusive: Cardinal Robert McElroy’s first interview since receiving the red hat

Cardinal McElroy on Curia reform, Vatican finances and the Pope Francis resignation rumors

Pope Francis beatifies John Paul I, the ‘smiling pope’ who governed the church for 33 days in 1978

Book recommendation: 

The September Pope, Stefania Falasca, Our Sunday Visitor, 2021

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