The Popecast: A History of the Papacy

By The PopecastHistory

The Popecast: A History of the Papacy episodes

May 18, 2019The Brothers Pope (Sisinnius & Constantine)
It’s a Popecast first, folks. The first time we’re covering two popes in a single episode AND the first of three times in Church history that two brothers each held the Chair of Peter – and interestingly enough, also the first of three times that the brothers reigned back-to-back. Mama must’ve been so proud.
SUPPORT THE POPECAST: patreon.com/mattsewell
LINKS
Pope Sisinnius (Flocknote's Popes in a Year)
Pope Sisinnius (Catholic Encyclopedia)
Pope Sisinnius (Wikipedia)
Pope Constantine (Flocknote's Popes in a Year)
Pope Constantine (Catholic Encyclopedia)
Pope Constantine (Wikipedia)
Support The Popecast: A History of the Papacy
11 min
May 10, 2019Another Very Bad Pope (Alexander VI)
In 1492, something else happened besides Columbus sailing the ocean blue, namely, that the most notorious pope EVER ascended to the Chair of Peter. This week it's the guy who typically tops the list of every rundown of the so-called “Bad Popes”, and who was described by contemporary historian as “more evil and more lucky than perhaps any pope before him”.
SUPPORT THE POPECAST: patreon.com/mattsewell
LINKS
Letter of Pope Pius II rebuking Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia
Inter Caetara (papal bull granting Spain exclusive rights to colonize and explore the New World)
Pope Alexander VI (Popes in a Year - Flocknote)
Pope Alexander VI (Wikipedia)
Pope Alexander VI (Catholic Encyclopedia)
Support The Popecast: A History of the Papacy
16 min
May 01, 2019The Popecast's Guide to Pope Benedict XVI's Letter on the Sex Abuse Scandal
This episode serves as a brief recap and analysis on Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's recent letter on the Church's sexual abuse crisis – paired with the audio version of the letter released exclusively by The Popecast – for those who have neither the time nor the interest to wade through the minefield of Catholic Twitter to sort it all out.
LINKS MENTIONED ON THE EPISODE
Full Text of Pope Emeritus Benedict's letter: LINK
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
JD Flynn on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jdflynn/status/1116918335793328128
Ed Condon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/canonlawyered/status/1116686902525083648
Fr. Harrison Ayre on Twitter (2008 speech by Pope Benedict XVI): https://twitter.com/FrHarrison/status/1117322811884937219
Kyle Helmick on Twitter (Catholics who make money off the faith): https://twitter.com/HelmickeyMouse/status/1122247925013282816
CONS (Critics of the letter)
Fr. James Martin / Twitter thread – https://twitter.com/JamesMartinSJ/status/1116348415812808706
Massimo Faggioli / Commonweal Magazine – Benedict's Untimely Meditation
Jamie Manson / National Catholic Reporter – Pope Benedict Explains Things to Me
Jason Horowitz / New York Times – Dueling Popes? Maybe. Dueling Views in a Divided Church? Definitely.
PROS (In favor of the letter, even with light criticism)
Gerhard Ludwig Muller / First Things – Benedict and His Critics
Marc Barnes / Bad Catholic – Benedict XVI's Critics Are Not Being Smart
Ed Condon / Catholic News Agency – Analysis: How Benedict's essay supports Francis' call for 'zero tolerance'
Marc Barnes / Bad Catholic – Fr. James Martin You Leave My Dad Right Out of This
Dr. Chad Pecknold / Catholic Herald – Why Benedict's Intervention is So Important
Dr. Chad Pecknold / Catholic Herald – Why did Benedict mention the Eucharist in his abuse essay?
Fr. Raymond de Souza / Catholic Herald – Why Benedict by-passed the Vatican
Suppo
18 min
April 13, 2019 EXTRA: Audio of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's Letter on Church Sex Abuse Scandal
On April 10, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI released a letter addressing the scandal of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church – of which the full audible reading can be found here. The retired pope gave historical background to how the scandal came to be, how it's affected the formation of priests in seminaries, and what the Church ought to do about it.
FULL TEXT: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/full-text-of-benedict-xvi-the-church-and-the-scandal-of-sexual-abuse-59639
[SUPPORT THE POPECAST](patreon.com/mattsewell) ON PATREON
Support The Popecast: A History of the Papacy
37 min
March 19, 2019The Abuse Scandal, Human Nature, & the Altar of the Heart (Interview w/ Dr. Chad Pecknold)
Dr. Chad Pecknold, associate professor of theology at the Catholic University of America, joins the Popecast this week to talk about the present scandal in the Church, human nature, St. Augustine's two Cities, and the papacy's role in securing the Church as a divine institution.
Dr. Pecknold will be speaking at Healing the Breach of Trust on March 26, a day of talks at Catholic University of America and part of a series of planned conferences on the Church's current crisis. Dr. Pecknold's talk and others will be live-streamed here.

BECOME A PATRON - patreon.com/mattsewell

LINKS
Chad C. Pecknold, Ph.D. – BIO
Healing the Breach of Trust (Session 3) - INFO | LIVESTREAM (3/26)
Special Guest: Dr. Chad Pecknold.
Support The Popecast: A History of the Papacy
44 min
March 13, 2019The Pope Who Didn't Do Anything Funny (Pope St. Hilarius)
This week’s pope has a bit of an ironic name. During his six years in the Chair of Peter, nothing too exciting happened, and certainly nothing that seemed to live up to, uh, how we currently define "hilarious."

Become a patron and get early access to Popecast episodes, ask a question to be answered on the show, and get special bonus content – patreon.com/mattsewell

LINKS
Pope St. Hilarius (Flocknote's Popes in a Year)
"Four Saints with Laughably Ridiculous Names" (Denver Catholic)
Pope St. Hilarus (Catholic Encyclopedia)
Pope Hilarius (Wikipedia)
Support The Popecast: A History of the Papacy
14 min
February 28, 2019Interview w/ Trent Horn (Apologist, Speaker, & Author)
Catholic apologist, speaker, and author Trent Horn joins Matt on The Popecast this week. Topics covered (among others) include:
Biblical basis for the papacy
Papal infallibility
When is it okay to criticize the pope, and how far is too far?
BECOME A PATRON: patreon.com/mattsewell

LINKS (mentioned in this episode)
[BOOK] Bad Shepherds by Rod Bennett (Sophia Institute Press)
Ut Unum Sint (On commitment to Ecumenism) – Encyclical by Pope St. John Paul II, 1995
Donum Veritatis (On the Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologian) – Document by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, written by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, 1990
[BOOK] The Papacy: What the Pope Does and Why It Matters by Stephen Ray & Dennis Walters (Ignatius Press
Special Guest: Trent Horn.
Support The Popecast: A History of the Papacy
43 min
February 22, 2019EXTRA: The Feast of the Chair of St. Peter
Normally the Church celebrates feast days for persons – men and women from every age who the Church has held up as models of holy living – but today is a day that celebrates a chair.
Well, at least what the chair represents.
BECOME A PATRON: patreon.com/mattsewell

LINKS
Pope Benedict XVI – General Audience, February 22, 2006
Franciscan Media – Feast of the Chair of St. Peter
Support The Popecast: A History of the Papacy
6 min
February 21, 2019 The Pope Who Had RBF (Servant of God, Pope Benedict XIII)
This week’s pope didn’t want the job, and lived like he didn’t have the job, which got him in some hot water. But the people who worked closest with him knew him only as the parish priest of Rome, and ultimately his personal virtue carried the day. Plus he had RBF.
BECOME A PATRON: patreon.com/mattsewell
Support The Popecast: A History of the Papacy
14 min
February 12, 2019The Pope Who Was BFFs With Charlemagne (Pope Adrian I)
This week’s pope is defined by two words. Charlemagne and iconoclasm. And no, I’m not talking the Trump Twitter kind of iconoclasm.
BECOME A PATRON: patreon.com/mattsewell

LINKS
Pope Adrian I (The Catholic Encyclopedia)
Pope Adrian I (Wikipedia)
Pope Adrian I (Flocknote's Popes in a Year)
Excerpt on Paul Afiarta in Thomas F.X. Noble's The Republic of St. Peter
The History of Charles the Great by J.I. Mombert (1888)
Duodecimum Saeculum by St. John Paul II (On the 1200th anniversary of the Second Council of Nicaea; 1987)

DUBIA LINKS
Full text of the five dubia – LINK
"Submitting dubia is a standard part of Church life. It’s not unreasonable to expect a clear answer." by Stephen Bullivant, The Catholic Herald – LINK
"On Pope Francis, High Horses, and Seeking a Simpler Faith" by Matthew Sewell, N.C. Register – LINK
Support The Popecast: A History of the Papacy
18 min

About The Popecast: A History of the Papacy

From the publisher's feed

The unvarnished, non-boring history of the popes of the Roman Catholic Church – told in a way to remind us that the world and the Church’s problems today have happened plenty of times before.