When President Trump took to Truth Social earlier this year and attacked Pope Leo for being “WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy,” most Catholics were understandably shocked. But a clash between a secular leader and the bishop of Rome is hardly without precedent. This week on “Jesuitical,” hosts Zac Davis and Ashley McKinless talk with Miles Pattendens, an expert on popes and papal conclaves, about the long and quirky history of feuds between popes and politicians.

In Signs of the Times, Zac and Ashley discuss the Vatican rejection of a request from the German bishops to allow lay people to preach the homily at Mass. Plus, a look ahead at Pope Leo’s summer plans. 

And in As One Friends Speak to Another, America Media’s O’Hare fellows—Brigid McCabe, Ed Desciak and Will Gualitiere—share some spiritual insights from a year working at the intersection of the church and the world. 

Jesuitical listener survey

00:00 Context

Links:

Vatican to German bishops: No lay people preaching homilies at Mass

Extraordinary consistory signals Pope Leo’s push to work with cardinals on global challenges

Pope Leo speaks out on SSPX ordinations and U.S.-Iran deal

Pope Leo to accept Liberty Medal and address Americans on July 3

Electing the Pope in Early Modern Italy, 1450-1700

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This week on “Jesuitical,” Zac and Ashley sit down with Luke Burgis, the director of the Cluny Institute at The Catholic University of America and the author of The One and the Ninety-Nine: Forging Identity in the Age of Social Contagion. They discuss why we join and leave tribes, how to form a “solid” self and what healthy group identity looks like.

Links:

The One and the Ninety-Nine: Forging Identity in the Age of Social Contagion

Learn more about the Cluny Institute

JD Vance writes about his journey to Catholicism in his new book, ‘Communion’

Consecration 101: What the bishops’ upcoming consecration of the US to the Sacred Heart means

Pope Leo XIV approves new statutes for child protection commission

Pope Leo ends visit to Spain with a call to repent

What’s on tap?

Sancerre

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This week on “Jesuitical”, Ashley McKinless and Zac Davis talk to Dianne Bergant, C.S.A.,  who taught Scripture at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago for 44 years. She also served as America’s Word columnist from 2002 to 2005. During her time at CTU, Sr. Dianne had one very famous student, Robert Prevost—the future Pope Leo XIV. With Sr. Dianne, Zac and Ashley discuss what it’s like to be the teacher of a future pope and how approaches to teaching Scripture have evolved over time.

During Signs of the Times, Ashley and Zac unpack Pope Leo’s trip to Spain and a new Sagrada Familia Lego Set, and they talk sports with Catholic perspectives on the World Cup and NBA Finals—featuring some words from O’Hare Fellow Ed Desciak. 

In “As One Friend Speaks to Another,” Ashley shares an exciting announcement.

Links from the show:

Pope Leo defends the unborn and migrants in historic speech to Spanish parliament

More than one million attend Pope Leo’s Mass and procession in the heart of Madrid

Pope Leo meets Bad Bunny in Madrid

In Spain, Pope Leo denounces polarization and hails commitment to multilateralism

Lego announces new set designed after Spain’s Sagrada Família basilica

Oligarchs can’t ruin the World Cup 

Celebrating faith and FIFA: Italian-American community welcomes soccer legends

Your Catholic Guide to the 2026 N.B.A. Finals: Spurs Sisters vs. Villanova Knicks

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This week on “Jesuitical,” Zac and Ashley speak with Mary Kate Polanin, the executive editor of The Good Newsroom, the digital news outlet of the Archdiocese of New York. They discuss the important and changing role of diocesan communications, Catholics in the digital space and New York’s new archbishop.

In Signs of the Times, Zac and Ashley discuss Pope Leo’s surprising and historic choice to lead the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication and dig into the advice “Magnifica Humanitas” offers to each of us when it comes to navigating our relationship with A.I. Plus: Pope Leo heads to Spain on Saturday—and Bad Bunny is hoping they cross paths. 

Links from the show:

Pope Leo appoints president of EWTN News as head of Vatican communications

America’s coverage of “Magnifica Humanitas”

Bad Bunny wants to meet Pope Leo XIV. In Madrid, a crossover event is in the works.

The Good Newsroom

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On this bonus episode of “Jesuitical,” Ashley and Zac speak with two digital evangelization experts who helped create the Vatican’s study group report on the digital environment as part of the Synod on Synodality. Kim Daniels directs the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life at Georgetown University, and José Manuel de Urquidi runs the Evangelization Lab. Both were synod delegates, along with then-Cardinal Robert Prevost (the future Pope Leo XIV), at the global sessions of the synod in Rome in 2023 and 2024. 

They discuss:

00:00 What are the Synod Study Groups?

7:10 How Pope Leo has shaped synodality

15:16 How influencers challenge church jurisdiction

28:30 Accompanying digital evangelizers

33:40 Converting to real communities

Links:

Study Group 3’s final report on the Digital Environment

The Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life

Evangelization Lab

Coverage of Pope Leo’s encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas”

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This week on Jesuitical: A feed drop of this week's special “Inside the Vatican” roundtable, a discussion of “Magnifica Humanitas,” Pope Leo’s groundbreaking first encyclical on protecting the human person in the age of artificial intelligence. Host Colleen Dulle sits down with her co-host and senior Vatican correspondent, Gerard O’Connell, as well as America’s president and editor in chief, Sam Sawyer, S.J.

They discuss the document’s key takeaways, how it is being received in Silicon Valley, Pope Leo’s challenge for every Catholic in the A.I. age and much more. 

Chapters:

0:00 Intro

1:11 Pope Leo present for the launch of his own encyclical

4:21 How the encyclical is being received by the tech community

8:43 Magnifica Humanitas on the growth of Catholic social teaching

13:16 Acknowledging the Church’s role in slavery

15:53 Exploring Pope Leo’s ecclesiology

22:30 Leo’s concrete recommendations for A.I.

32:30 How lay people can deal with A.I.

37:40 Outro

Links:

Read “Magnifica Humanitas”

Pope Leo’s first encyclical tackles A.I., power and human dignity

Pope Leo XIV makes historic apology for the Catholic Church’s role in legitimizing slavery

Why Pope Leo’s new encyclical quotes Gandalf: Literary images of hope and faith in ‘Magnifica Humanitas’

A capitalist (priest) reads ‘Magnifica Humanitas’

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This week on the “Jesuitical” podcast, Ashley McKinless and Zac Davis speak to theologian and legal scholar Cathleen Kaveny about why Catholics seem obsessed with questions of sexual morality. They were prompted to dig into the historical development of Catholic sexual ethics after Pope Leo said in a press conference, “We tend to think that when the church is talking about morality, that the only issue of morality is sexual. And in reality, I believe there are much greater, more important issues…”

00:00 Leo's comments on sexual morality

4:08 What Scripture says

6:05 How Catholic teaching developed

9:30 What is "natural law"?

16:37 How Catholics became obsessed with sex

20:26 JPII's "theology of the body"

24:41 Sex and justice

28:50 Sex, confession and salvation

36:35 A healthy approach to sex

Links:

Pope Leo speaks on same-sex blessings, migration and more on plane back to Rome

Heaven and hell in post-Vatican II Catholicism: How to move from fear to love

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This week, Jesuitical co-host Ashley McKinless and producer Sebastian Gomes speak to Michael W. Higgins about the spiritual master, Father Henri Nouwen (1932-1996). They explore Nouwen’s “wounded healer” approach to ministry, his brokenness and vulnerability, and his impact on contemporary Catholic thought.

In “Signs of the Times,” Ashley and Zac discuss Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Pope Leo, plans for a border wall through a pilgrimage site, a cosmetics mogul turned Catholic priest, and when customer service hung up on Pope Leo.

00:00 Who is Henri Nouwen?

2:51 Pope Leo meets Marco Rubio

7:42 A border wall through a pilgrimage site?

10:40 A cosmetics mogul turned Catholic priest

12:39 Customer service hangs up on Pope Leo

15:40 You need to know Henri Nouwen

18:31 Henri Nouwen was an enigma

25:14 Nouwen's writings

31:23 How Nouwen understood priesthood

36:54 Intimacy, celibacy and homosexuality

41:17 Nouwen, the wounded healer

44:52 Good ministry isn't performative

48:39 How Nouwen prayed

58:00 Faith sharing: overcoming performative piety

Links:

Pope Leo XIV’s First Year

Pope Leo meets with Marco Rubio amid Trump’s personal attacks

Catholic diocese fights Trump administration plan to seize pilgrimage site for border wall Cosmetics millionaire turned seminarian, he’d give fortune ‘back a million times’ for Jesus

Story of customer service agent hanging up on Leo shows pope’s ‘normal’ side

"Genius Born of Anguish: The Life and Legacy of Henri Nouwen"

2026 Henri Nouwen Conference: "Longing for Home: The Prophetic Witness of Henri Nouwen in a Wounded World"

Henri Nouwen Society

Henri Nouwen: How to (actually) pray without ceasing

The Monk and The Cripple by Henri Nouwen, 1980

Podcast Deep Dive: The first American pope—how it happened and what it means

Performative piety: Why liturgy is not a space for self-expression

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Jesuitical’s co-host Zac Davis is joined by America's Vatican correspondent, Colleen Dulle, and executive editor Sebastian Gomes to assess the first year of Pope Leo XIV’s ministry as Bishop of Rome. They discuss Leo’s style, priorities and to what degree is continuing Pope Francis’ reforming agenda.

00:00 Pope Leo's first year

1:56 Can Pope Leo be claimed by the left or the right?

5:45 Is Pope Leo continuing Pope Francis' agenda?

13:30 Pope Leo's style

19:42 Women and sexuality

23:18 Is church unity the priority?

27:45 Pope Leo's appeals for peace

Links:

Pope Leo at year one: The progress of an American pope

Pope Leo’s powerful lesson in vulnerable leadership

Trump, Pope Leo, William F. Buckley and John XXIII: An overview of Popes and Politics in America

Pope Leo remembers ‘the great gift’ of Pope Francis on the first anniversary of his death

Pope Leo denounces those who use the name God for military gain

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This week on “Jesuitical,” Ashley and Zac talk to Laura Kelly Fanucci, author of Living Easter: 50 Days to Practice Resurrection. Together, they discuss the tendency among Christians to overlook the 50-day Easter season, as well as Laura’s personal experiences and struggles practicing resurrection.

In Signs of the Times, Ashley and Zac speak with James Martin, S.J., editor at large for America, to unpack Pope Leo’s recent comments about blessings for same-sex couples and the church’s teaching on sexual morality.

And in As One Friend Speaks to Another, Ashley shares her experience taking on a new role at America and the graces that it has brought her.

00:00 Is Easter harder than Lent?

2:05 German bishops to bless same-sex couples

6:00 How Pope Leo responded

9:20 Church unity and sexual morality

12:43 Is the church at an impasse?

15:20 Is the Easter season too long?

18:34 How to practice Easter-ing

26:29 Resurrection stories to learn from

30:57 Resurrecting Pentecost

34:52 Uniting suffering to Christ

41:13 Grief, scars and resurrection in Minneapolis

48:20 Faith sharing

 Links

Order Laura’s new book, Living Easter: 50 Days to Practice Resurrection

Pope Leo speaks on same-sex blessings, migration and more on plane back to Rome

Remarks on sexual ethics highlight Pope Leo’s pastoral priorities

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