Vatican Insider

Welcome to Vatican Insider on another historic weekend – the second with our new Holy Father, American-born Augustinian, Pope Leo XIV. In fact, the inaugural Mass of his pontificate takes place on Sunday, May 18 in St. Peter’s Square. St. John Paul’s birthday was May 18 – he would have been 105!

This week, in what is normally the interview segment of Vatican Insider, I’ve prepared a Special on the beautiful Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary of Pompeii, just south of Naples. Why this shrine this week? Well, Pope Leo XIV was elected on May 8, the feast day of this marvelous Marian shrine, and Mary is very dear to him.

Habemus Papam! History! A miracle! The first ever Pope, Successor to St Peter, Vicar of Christ, from The United States!

Also, a word about my guests in the second part of my interview segment this week: two friends who have been in Rome for many years, John and Ashley Noronha. Anyone in Rome with even a remote link to the Church – people working in the Vatican, the Roman Curia, our seminary here in Rome, etc – will have at some point crossed paths with Ashley and John! They have wonderful individual stories but together, as a couple, their story is the Truth and Beauty Project. So tune in this weekend to learn about immersion in Truth and Beauty!

Welcome to Vatican Insider on this second weekend without a Pope! Such a strange feeling! Most of VI’s news segment this week will, of course, be dedicated to this period known as the sede vacante – the vacant see – from which we get our word vacancy! Another word is interregnum – the period between two reigning pontiffs.

First, a word about my guests in the interview segment this week: two friends who have been in Rome for many years, John and Ashley Noronha. Anyone in Rome with even a remote link to the Church – people working in the Vatican, the Roman Curia, our seminary here in Rome, etc – will have at some point crossed paths with Ashley and John! They have wonderful individual stories but together, as a couple, their story is the Truth and Beauty Project. So tune in this weekend to learn about immersion in Truth and Beauty!

This week, in what is normally the interview segment of Vatican Insider, I bring you on a pilgrimage with the Via Lucis!

After the news segment and the Q&A on the Paschal candle, stay tuned for the special story about the Via Lucis, the Way of Light, basically a post-Easter journey through 14 stations of light, the light that fills our life because of the Resurrection.

This devotion is also known as Stations of the Resurrection as it encourages the faithful to meditate on the Resurrection of Jesus and on his post-Resurrection appearances to the disciples and others.(Originally aired on 4/14/24)

In the interview segment this weekend, I present Part II of a Special I‘ve prepared on a piece of cloth linked to the Resurrection, a piece of linen called the Shroud of Turin that many believe to be the cloth that wrapped the body of Christ in the tomb.

Greetings from Rome on this Palm Sunday weekend! Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week, that extraordinarily solemn time of the year leading up to the Easter of the Resurrection. In the interview segment this weekend, I present Part I of a Special I ‘ve prepared on a piece of cloth linked to the Resurrection, a piece of linen called the Shroud of Turin that many believe to be the cloth that wrapped the body of Christ in the tomb.

On April 2 we marked the 20th anniversary of the death of Pope St. John Paul at 9:37 pm on April 2, 2005, vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday, the new name given to the Second Sunday of Easter by John Paul! To commemorate that day and those years I have prepared a special about a man – a priest, a pope and a saint. It is about a life and legacy, seen through my memories and those of Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of State, Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, secretary to John Paul for 40 years, now archbishop emeritus of Krakow, Poland, and Polish Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, papal liturgical ceremonial official under John Paul and now, papal almoner under Francis.

On Tuesday, March 25, we marked one of most important feast days of the Church, the Annunciation, the day when Mary said ‘Yes’ to the Angel Gabriel – thus to God’s plan for her life – and the Word was made flesh, and our Redeemer was conceived – the one whose passion, death and Resurrection we will commemorate in Holy Week and Easter Sunday.

I mention this because this week, instead of an interview, I present a special on the Holy House of Loreto – a beautiful and historical shrine in Italy built to house the dwelling in which Mary received the Angel Gabriel, in which the Annunciation took place. How did that home come to Italy from the Holy Land? (Re-Air)

Thanks for tuning in to Vatican Insider on this thrd weekend of Lent. Instead of a guest this weekend in the interview segment, I’m airing a special I’ve prepared on a Lenten tradition that is unique to Rome – the Lenten station churches. I offer a mini-pilgrimage of sorts as we visit some of the Station churches in Rome, very special churches that tell a beautiful story over the 40 days of Lent, a story found only in Rome.

Welcome to Vatican Insider on this second weekend of Lent 2025! Challenging times at the Vatican so there’s a lot of news this week but I do have a very uplifting story in the interview segment of VI and my conversation with Deacon Andy Orosco of the diocese of San Bernardino in California. As you heard in Part I of our conversation last week, Andy is a Native American who works in the Native American Ministry in the diocese and tells a fascinating story about his ministry and his people You will also hear from his wife Roseanne as both were in Rome recently for the Jubilee of Deacons.

You met Deacon Andy previously on Vatican Insider when he and Roseanne were in Rome two years ago. We met at La Vittoria restaurant (where else!), and when I learned his story, I said ” you must be my guest” on Vatican Insider and we taped an interview that was entirely off the cuff. This week we focus on their time in Rome for the Jubilee of Deacons.