Inside The Vatican

The eyes of the world were on the United States last week, when a group of insurrectionists supporting President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol building as Congress was certifying the results of last year’s presidential election. Pope Francis said he was “astounded” and denounced the violence and the movement that caused it.

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell discuss Pope Francis’ challenge to the U.S. to overcome its divisions and how the U.S. bishops will need to step up in order to achieve that. “The church can't be missing in action in such a big crisis,” Gerry said.

Colleen and Gerry also explain this week’s update to canon law which opens the permanent lay liturgical ministries of lector (reader) and acolyte (server) to women for the first time. For a more in-depth look at the change, check out Colleen’s explainer article here.

Links from the show:

Gerard O’Connell | Pope Francis condemns the violence at the U.S. Capitol

Gerard O’Connell | Pope Francis calls on Americans to promote reconciliation and protect democracy after the Capitol attack

The Editors | Impeach. Convict. Now.

Fr. Bryan Massingale | The Racist Attack on Our Nation’s Capitol 

Fr. Bryan Massingale and Fr. Matt Malone, S.J. | Video: How to make spiritual sense of the attack on the Capitol

Archbishop Mark Coleridge | Catholic bishops can’t risk falling back on old tactics of political engagement

Colleen Dulle | Explainer: The history of women lectors and altar servers—and what Pope Francis has changed

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Welcome to Inside the Vatican’s 100th episode!

This week, host Colleen Dulle and Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell celebrate their 100th episode, reminiscing on their favorite memories of the last two years of “Inside the Vatican.” They also give updates on Vatican City’s soon-to-arrive coronavirus vaccines and Pope Francis’ recent sciatica flare-up. (Don’t worry, he’s OK.)

Colleen and Gerry also dive into a recent legally binding order from Pope Francis instructing the Vatican’s Secretariat of State, which was once its most powerful office, to transfer all of its assets to the Vatican’s financial oversight office and removing their office’s investing power. The decision comes as financial misconduct in the Secretariat of State is being investigated.

With the investigation ongoing, Colleen asks, is Pope Francis jumping the gun with this punitive measure?

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Links from the show:

Gerard O’Connell: Pope Francis cancels his New Year’s plans due to ‘a painful sciatica’

Gerard O’Connell: Pope Francis tests negative for Covid-19 after two close advisors were infected

Pope formally strips Vatican secretariat of state of assets

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The coronavirus pandemic upended everyone’s plans for 2020—including the Vatican’s. From the first weeks of the pandemic when Pope Francis prayed in the rain in St. Peter’s Square to the London finance scandal to the new standards of transparency ushered in by the McCarrick report, it’s been an unprecedented year in every way.

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell recap the biggest Vatican moments of 2020. The hosts focus on three areas of change in the Vatican: transparency, missionary work, and solidarity with the poor.

Links from the show:

Gerard O’Connell: The Top 7 Pope Francis Stories of 2020

Deep Dive: The Vatican’s $200 million London real estate scandal, explained

Deep Dive: How will historians judge Pope Pius XII’s decisions during World War II?

Deep Dive: The Rise and Fall of Theodore McCarrick

Deep Dive: The Vatican-China deal, explained

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Pope Francis held two pared-down and socially-distanced Christmas celebrations this week: First, Mass on Christmas Eve in St. Peter’s basilica, and then his “urbi et orbi” address and blessing “to the church and the world.”

In both, we heard a common theme from Pope Francis in 2020: a strong call for greater fraternity among people.

In this episode, host Colleen Dulle gives a quick update on what the pope said.

Read Pope Francis’ Christmas Eve homily

Read Pope Francis’ Urbi et Orbi address

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Just after Vatican City ordered enough doses of the coronavirus vaccine for all of its employees and their families, two cardinals who work close to the pope have tested positive for the virus. Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the 57-year-old papal almoner who once climbed down a manhole to restore electricity to a building where homeless people were living, was taken to the hospital with pneumonia symptoms. Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, 78, the president of the Governorate of Vatican City State, also tested positive.

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell discuss the cardinals’ condition and the Vatican’s covid prevention measures, along with a new document from the Congregation from the Doctrine of the Faith stating that it is morally permissible for Catholics to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Colleen and Gerry break down the C.D.F.’s argument on why a vaccine derived from cell lines from an aborted fetus is acceptable for Catholics to receive. The hosts also unpack Pope Francis’ address to the Roman curia on crisis and conflict.

Links from the show:

Two Vatican cardinals close to Pope Francis test positive for Covid-19

Vatican: Catholics can get Covid-19 vaccines that used abortion cells

Pope Francis: Sorting the church into ‘right vs. left, progressive vs. traditionalist’ betrays its true nature

Pope Francis’ 2020 address to the Roman Curia

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Last week, the Vatican dropped a surprise announcement that Pope Francis would be visiting Iraq March 5-8, 2021. The announcement was surprising not least of all because of the ongoing pandemic and insurgency in the country.

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell talk about how the Vatican is weighing the pastoral needs of Iraq’s embattled Christian community and the health and safety concerns for Pope Francis and for the crowds who want to see him.

Up next, Gerry and Colleen give their takes on the Vatican’s futuristic Nativity set and explain why Darth Vader and an astronaut are included among the ceramic figures coming to adore the Christ child.

Finally, Pope Francis declared a year of St. Joseph beginning December 8. Why did he choose St. Joseph as a patron for this year? Gerry and Colleen explain the background of the decision and reflect on the pope’s new letter on St. Joseph.

Links from the show:

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In October, the Holy See and China renewed their controversial agreement on bishops’ appointments. If both sides are satisfied with how things are going after two years, the arrangement will become permanent.

As it stands now, both sides want to see some changes before that can happen. In this special episode of “Inside the Vatican,” America editors Gerard O’Connell and Zac Davis join Colleen Dulle to explain what the Holy See and China each want from the deal.

They unpack the story of the historic relationship between China and the Vatican: how the sides are compromising, where they are unwilling to compromise, and what will need to happen before they establish a permanent diplomatic relationship.

Links from the show:

The Catholic Church in China | A Short Documentary

Gerard O’Connell | The China-Vatican agreement has been extended. Now, Rome is looking for more from Beijing.

Gerard O’Connell | The Vatican is ready to renew its deal with China. Privately, officials admit they’re walking a tightrope.

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This weekend’s consistory, where Pope Francis created 13 new cardinals, only 11 of whom were physically present, will go down in history as one of the church’s most unique celebrations. Ordinarily, thousands of guests crowd into St. Peter’s Basilica for the creation of new cardinals, who are fêted before and after the ceremony in countless parties and receptions.

This year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the cardinal-designates’ days before the consistory included no such parties: Instead, they faced 10 days of quarantine in the Vatican’s Santa Marta guesthouse, staying in their individual rooms and having meals delivered to the door. Several expressed in Zoom interviews their surprise at how strict the measures were.

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell take a look at this year’s pared-down consistory and how Pope Francis has shifted the geography of the College of Cardinals. The hosts also discuss the Vatican’s similarly scaled-back Christmas plans and spend some time remembering soccer superstar Diego Maradona.

Links from the show:

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Pope Francis opens up about his “personal covids”—times of crisis in his life—in a new book called Let Us Dream, written in collaboration with his biographer, Austen Ivereigh.

With Mr. Ivereigh’s encouragement, the pope brought his sometimes-lofty ideas for building a new society post-pandemic down to earth. He discloses in a new way how his lung operation as a young man taught him dependence on others and how his so-called “exile” in Cordoba, Argentina after that country’s “Dirty War” unexpectedly prepared him to become pope.

In this bonus episode of “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and papal biographer Austen Ivereigh discuss Pope Francis’ view of the George Floyd protests, the #MeToo movement and the work of clerical sexual abuse survivors are an integral part of people reclaiming their dignity.

Mr. Ivereigh and Ms. Dulle discuss the pope’s role as, as Mr. Ivereigh calls him, “the world’s spiritual director,” and how he hopes to apply Jesuit discernment to helping people to recover their collective memory and build a new future together.

Links from the show:

Pre-order Let Us Dream

Colleen Dulle | Pope Francis talks about Uighurs, George Floyd and Universal Basic Income in new interview

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Juan Carlos Cruz is an abuse survivor and advocate who has the pope’s hear when it comes to clerical sexual abuse. In 2018, when Pope Francis went to Chile, he was asked about Juan Carlos’ abuser and his bishop’s cover-up. Francis dismissed Juan Carlos out of hand and called his accusations calumny.

Soon after, Francis sent investigators to look into abuse in Chile, and they came back with a 2600-page report saying Juan Carlos and his friends had been telling the truth. Pope Francis apologized, and the two have had a good relationship ever since.

On this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and Juan Carlos Cruz discuss Juan Carlos’ reactions to the Vatican’s report on former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and what reforms Juan Carlos believes should come next.

Watch a video version of this interview.

Links from the show:

Jesuitical Podcast | Juan Carlos Cruz: the survivor who changed the pope’s mind on sex abuse

Colleen Dulle | Top 5 Takeaways from the McCarrick Report

Does the McCarrick report exonerate Pope Francis? Yes and no.

Editorial | The McCarrick Report lacked an independent investigator. It shows.

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