Inside The Vatican

Pope Francis has focused his messages to the world this week on the importance of international cooperation and the sharing of resources in order to overcome the coronavirus pandemic and build a more equitable society.

On this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” America’s Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and producer Colleen Dulle discuss the vision Pope Francis laid out in his new “plan for rising up again.”

Then, the hosts talk about the task force the pope has assembled to actualize this vision. He appointed to its steering committee an Argentinian priest who is an expert in economics and has experience working with the Vatican on environmental issues and with church humanitarian organizations in areas affected by epidemics. Gerry explains Father Augusto Zampini’s connections to the pope and the work he will be doing in this key decision-making role.

One aspect of the task force’s work will be finding new ways for the Vatican to raise money to cover its operating expenses and provide aid to other nations. On the show, Gerry breaks down where the Vatican’s money comes from and how those sources are quickly drying up. The hosts also cover a slew of meeting and conference cancellations at the Vatican.

Links from the show:

On Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope Francis urges countries to put aside ‘selfish indifference’ during coronavirus pandemic

Pope Francis shares his vision for Covid-19 aftermath

Pope Francis taps Argentinian priest to help lead Vatican response to coronavirus crisis

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Molly Burhans, the founder and executive director of GoodLands, has created what may be the world’s largest set of Catholic geographic information. Her nonprofit organization has mapped church-owned properties around the world with a view towards using the church’s resources more responsibly.

This work has taken on an increased importance during the coronavirus pandemic: As she explains on “Inside the Vatican,” knowing the location of church hospitals in relation to, for example, low-income communities, potable water, and other health programs can help the church to use its resources more efficiently to extend care to the largest number of people.

Molly speaks with producer Colleen Dulle about her recent work consulting with the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Development on its new document about water, sanitation, and hygiene. The two discuss the links between ecology and the coronavirus pandemic, and Molly makes the case for environmental programs as a necessary part of Catholic healthcare.

Links from the show:

Aqua Fons Vitae

Explore GoodLands’ Catholic GeoHub

Listen to Molly Burhans on America’s “Jesuitical” podcast

Can high-tech maps help the church and save the planet?

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In his Easter messages, Pope Francis came out in support of a universal basic wage, relaxing economic sanctions, and forgiving the debts of poor countries. This week on the “Inside the Vatican” podcast, veteran Vatican reporter Gerard O’Connell joins producer Colleen Dulle to talk about these policies and to look back at the response to St. John Paul II’s call for debt forgiveness in 2000.

Colleen and Gerry also take a look at the new commission to study women deacons, which they reported on in print last week. The new commission features no members of the first commission to study women deacons and instead includes more obscure scholars. On the show, the hosts take a look at how these commission members are chosen.

Finally, Pope Francis gave his first interview to the English-language media last week. Gerry and Colleen review their takeaways from the interview.

America Media will celebrate its 111th anniversary Friday. Please consider supporting our journalism at the intersection of the church and the world by making a donation here.

Links from the show:

In Easter message, Pope Francis proposes ‘universal basic wage’

In Easter ‘Urbi et Orbi’ address, Pope Francis calls for an end to indifference

Pope Francis has set up a new commission to study women deacons

Pope Francis on Living with COVID-19

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Usually, Holy Week doesn’t require any extra work from the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. A separate office organizes the pope’s liturgies, and the guidelines used around the world stay the same from year to year.

This year, though, with coronavirus bringing the widespread suspension of public Masses, several needs arose that only the Congregation for Divine Worship could respond to: The congregation worked quickly to establish the new Mass in Time of Pandemic, as well as a special intention for the Good Friday liturgy and guidelines for celebrating the Holy Week liturgies without a congregation physically present.

“In this moment of trial, the challenge is to stop the contagion without stopping the prayer,” said Archbishop Arthur Roche, secretary of the congregation.

Archbishop Roche joins “Inside the Vatican” host Colleen Dulle for a special Holy Week interview on the Vatican’s response to rapidly changing liturgical needs around the world and his advice for celebrating Holy Week at home.

“Our Catholics are as creative as our priests are, and they won’t let this time pass without celebrating what is the certainty of their faith,” the archbishop said. “In other words, what the Lord has achieved, what he has given to us through his suffering and death on the cross and his resurrection. They’ll celebrate it, I feel quite sure, with deep joy, knowing that we’re safe with the Lord who is with us in our anxiety and in our suffering, because he knew what that was personally.”

Links from the show:

Pope Francis approves new ‘Mass in Time of Pandemic’ and Good Friday coronavirus intention

On Holy Thursday, Pope Francis counsels world’s priests: ‘Take risks for forgiveness’

Pope Francis oversees an emotional Way of the Cross in empty square

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Pope Francis has given his first interview to the English-language media, which he was invited to give as a message to the anglophone world in this time of crisis. Host Colleen Dulle gives an update on what you can find in the interview, and on the new commission to study women deacons that the Vatican announced today.

Links from the show:

‘A Time of Great Uncertainty’: An Interview with Pope Francis

Pope Francis has set up a new commission to study women deacons

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After almost five years of hearings and trials and appeals, Cardinal George Pell’s conviction of child sexual abuse was overturned April 6 with a unanimous decision from Australia’s highest court. Cardinal Pell has now left prison and will stay at a Carmelite monastery.

Now that a final judicial decision has been made in the Australian legal system, the Vatican will need to revisit the canonical investigation it had previously opened into historical complaints against Cardinal Pell, which had been paused until the appeals were complete. On this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” producer Colleen Dulle and Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell discuss whether that investigation should continue, after Gerry’s sources in Rome revealed that it may not.

Colleen and Gerry also look at a number of financial incentives that came out of the Vatican this week in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Pope Francis has earmarked $750,000 to support the work of church organizations in remote parts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and Amazonia where the church is a vital provider of social services. With approval from the pope, papal almoner Cardinal Konrad Krajewski has also made an unprecedented request of the Roman curia to donate money for coronavirus relief.

“The Pope is saying, you know, we all have to put our hands in our pockets and bring out the wallets and put them on the table,” Gerry said. “These people are dying. These people are suffering. These people have got no help.”

The hosts also talk briefly about Pope Francis’ similar Palm Sunday message, imploring young people to give their lives in service to others.

Links from the show:

Australia’s high court overturns guilty verdict against Cardinal George Pell on final appeal

Vatican responds with measure to Cardinal Pell’s acquittal and release from prison

Pope Francis establishes emergency fund to combat Covid-19 in mission countries

Papal almoner issues extraordinary appeal to Vatican churchmen for coronavirus offering

A Palm Sunday message from Pope Francis: Do not be afraid; you are not alone

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As the coronavirus pandemic rages on, the Vatican is looking both to provide for people’s spiritual needs and to ensure justice for those on the margins of society.

In this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and producer Colleen Dulle give an update on two new cases of coronavirus in the Vatican. Then, they turn to the Vatican’s response, beginning with the new prayers Pope Francis authorized this week.

The pope approved a special intention to be added to the Good Friday liturgy, a measure that was expected as part of the Vatican’s guidelines for celebrating Holy Week liturgies without the presence of the faithful, and he authorized a new set of prayers for “Mass in the Time of Pandemic.” Both texts pray for the sick, the dead, and mourners, as well as their caretakers and world leaders.

Up next, Father Arturo Sosa, Superior General of the Jesuits, held a webinar for 1,000 Jesuits and lay people this week urging them to discern how the world’s injustices have come to the fore during this pandemic and how each of them may be called to respond. “Listening to the Spirit, trusting in God and allowing ourselves to be guided by him does not exempt us from the effort to understand in depth the causes of this crisis, its consequences and the ways to make it an occasion to advance towards a more just and humane world,” Father Sosa said.

One way the Vatican is working to advance justice is through a new document released this week on the just use of water. Christiana Zenner, a Fordham University theologian and author of the book Just Water: Theology, Ethics, and Fresh Water Crises joins Colleen Dulle to discuss the document’s important points.

Links from the show:

Pope Francis approves new ‘Mass in Time of Pandemic’ and Good Friday coronavirus intention

Father Arturo Sosa: ‘Covid-19 reminds us that we are one humanity.’

Read: Aqua Fons Vitae: Orientations on Water, symbol of the cry of the poor and the cry of the Earth

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In this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” America’s Rome correspondent Gerard O’Connell and producer Colleen Dulle cover how Pope Francis and other Vatican leaders are making a concerted effort to draw people’s attention to the major ethical questions arising from the coronavirus pandemic—especially, how to protect poor and vulnerable people amidst economic instability.

“The governments that face the crisis” with social distancing and lockdowns “show the priority of their decisions: the people first,” Pope Francis wrote in a recent letter to an Argentinian judge. “This is important because we know that to defend the people supposes an economic setback.” Colleen and Gerry discuss the pope’s letter and his understanding of how governments should balance economic interests and public health interests.

The pope also joined United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in calling for a global ceasefire on Sunday, and Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle urged nations to forgive one another’s debts and to redirect military spending toward health and social services, keeping in mind many people’s economic precarity.

Building on these calls, the Pontifical Academy for Life, which focuses on the intersection of biomedical research and moral theology, issued a new note this week stressing the importance of solidarity between people and the sharing of resources between nations during and after the pandemic. On “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen and Gerry explain the note’s important points and how they fit into the Vatican’s ongoing coronavirus response.

Links from the show:

• Pope Francis warns of ‘a viral genocide’ if governments put the economy before people amid coronavirus pandemic 
• Pope Francis calls for a global cease-fire, attention to overcrowded prisons in response to coronavirus
• Papal academy says solidarity needed in pandemic

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In the first special coronavirus update episode of “Inside the Vatican,” veteran Vatican reporter Gerard O’Connell and producer Colleen Dulle discuss Pope Francis’ unprecedented “urbi et orbi” blessing given Friday, March 27.

Colleen spoke with Gerry just after Pope Francis blessed “the city and the world.” Pope Francis spoke about how the world currently feels the way Jesus’ disciples felt when a storm threatened to flood their boat but Jesus stayed asleep. “We have realized that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, but at the same time important and needed, all of us called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other,” the pope said.

Earlier in the show, Colleen gives an update on the known coronavirus cases in Vatican City, including one priest who lives in the same Vatican guesthouse as Pope Francis.

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Links from the show:

• Facing the Covid-19 storm, put your faith in the Lord, Pope Francis tells Rome and the world
• Read: Pope Francis’ Urbi et Orbi address on coronavirus and Jesus calming the storm
• Watch Pope Francis’ prayer service for the end of coronavirus
• Italian priest at guesthouse where Pope Francis lives tests positive for coronavirus

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As Italy’s death toll rises and Catholics worldwide find their access to churches and the sacraments limited, the Vatican has taken two initiatives to grant the faithful forgiveness of their sins. One measure from the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican’s “tribunal of mercy,” grants an indulgence specially for those who are suffering from the coronavirus and anyone who cares for them, even simply through prayer. A second decree also allows for priests to absolve sins without hearing one-on-one confessions in certain grave cases.

On this episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Rome correspondent Gerard O’Connell and producer Colleen Dulle unpack these measures along with two worldwide prayer initiatives Pope Francis announced this week. The hosts examine how the pope is using every spiritual and communications tool available to give people around the world a sense of consolation.

Colleen also announces that “Inside the Vatican” will provide twice-weekly updates for the duration of the coronavirus crisis.

Links from the show:

• Pope Francis authorizes plenary indulgences and general absolution as coronavirus crisis escalates
• Pope Francis calls on Christians worldwide to combat coronavirus pandemic with midday prayer on March 25
• The North American College in Rome sends seminarians back to the United States

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