Inside The Vatican

In this week’s episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Gerry and Colleen evaluate how Pope Leo XIV’s recovery from his lung surgery is progressing and discuss questions of how the operation might affect his immediate future plans. In the second part of the show, they look at Leo’s personal intervention on behalf of a besieged city in Ukraine.

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Chapters:

0:00 Health update and intro

1:55 Pope Leo returns to audience in St. Peter’s Square

5:59 Leo’s emphasis on family at general aud...

In this week’s episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen and Gerry explain what we know and what still remains unclear regarding Pope Leo XIV’s shocking lung cancer diagnosis. In the second part of the show, they recap the meeting of bishops on Amoris Laetitia and the election of Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle as the new dean of the College of Cardinals.

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Links:

Pope Leo has ‘resumed work’ thre...

In this week’s episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Pope Francis biographer Austen Ivereigh and America executive producer Sebastian Gomes join Colleen Dulle to discuss this week’s Vatican meeting on “Amoris Laetitia,” ten years after Pope Francis published his controversial exhortation on marriage and the family. Austen and Sebastian recap the tense 2014 and 2015 synods on the family, what Pope Francis decided in Amoris Laetitia and what is to be discussed at a Vatican meeting on the document to be held Oct. 7-14 for the heads of the world’s conferences of bishops. Chapters: 00:00 10 years after Amoris Laetitia 2:09 Pope Francis calls...

This week on Jesuitical, Colleen Dulle joins hosts Zac Davis and Sebasian Gomes to discuss Pope Leo’s recent visit to France, including his messages on assisted dying, European identity and the role of the Catholic Church in a secular country. Colleen also reflects on her experience of traveling with the pope for the first time.

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Chapters:

00:00 First time on the papal plane!

4:02 Why Pope Leo went to France

6:45 Catholic revival?

9:43 Secularity in France

14...

In this week’s episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Gerry and Colleen preview Pope Leo XIV’s visit to France, set for Sept. 25-28. The two unpack Pope Leo’s itinerary for the trip, give context for the political situation in the country and discuss what messages the pope may send to both secular and ecclesial authorities in a country and church that are being reshaped by the arrival of newcomers.

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Chapters:

00:00 News: Pope Leo to visit Latin America
2:12 Ba...

In this week’s episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Gerry and Colleen discuss the “birthday gifts” Pope Leo XIV gave to the Vatican on his 71st birthday: an expansion of the Vatican Library and archives and the repeal of Covid-era salary cuts. The hosts explain Vatican salaries and what has changed financially for the Holy See since the pandemic.

In the second part of the show, Colleen and Gerry give a primer on “Baby Bishops’ School,” the annual training for newly-ordained bishops that recently concluded in Rome.

Chapters:

0:00 Intro

0:42 Pope Leo repeals Covi...

In this week’s episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Gerry and Colleen take the opportunity of Pope Leo’s 71st birthday on Monday, Sept. 14, to look back at what he has accomplished thus far in his papacy and what major items remain on his desk for the fall, including trips to France and Latin America, a series of high-profile appointments and the ongoing trials of Marko Rupnik and Angelo Becciu.

The hosts also announce the launch of the newest America newsletter, Vatican Notebook! Subscribe here.

Chapters:

0:00 Intro

3:21 Pope Leo celebrates his 71st birth...

Pope Leo today received the National Constitution Center’s liberty medal and gave an acceptance speech via livestream from the Vatican. Colleen Dulle recaps his message.

Links from the show:

Read: Pope Leo’s message to the United States on its 250th anniversary

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Today, July 2, in response to the SSPX’s illicit ordinations of bishops, the Vatican announced that not only were the bishops involved in the ordination automatically excommunicated and in schism, but that any clergy of SSPX or lay members who “adhere” to the schism are also to be considered excommunicated.

Links from the show:

The Vatican and SSPX controversy, explained

Vatican declares excommunicated SSPX bishops, warns priests and lay faithful of schism

Analysis: SSPX excommunications show what Pope Leo means by church ‘unity’

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On this season finale of “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen and Gerry discuss the hectic weeks before Pope Leo’s summer vacation. First they recap the pope’s trip to Pavia to visit the remains of St. Augustine and the home of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, his speech to the World Food Program and the Vatican’s denial of the German bishops’ request to allow lay people to preach homilies. They also look ahead to this week’s consistory of cardinals, the illicit ordinations planned by SSPX, the pope’s address to Americans on July 3 and his trip to Lampedusa July 4, along wi...

Pope Leo visited Spain from June 6-12, a visit that drew record-breaking crowds. This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Gerard O’Connell recaps for Colleen Dulle the highlights from the pope’s three stops: Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands. On the last day, Gerry reports, Leo spoke out against those who take advantage of migrants “like I’ve rarely seen him,” shouting, “Stop! Repent!”

After this episode was recorded, Pope Leo spoke to journalists outside Castel Gandolfo, saying “Thank God” for the U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding and commenting on the upcoming illicit ordinations of bishops for the Societ...

Pope Leo’s encyclical ‘Magnifica Humanitas,’ published May 25, has sparked debates in the worlds of technology and theology while galvanizing online creators opposed to artificial intelligence. Anna Rowlands, a theologian and co-presenter of the text with Pope Leo, joins Colleen Dulle to parse the encyclical’s reception, its contributions to Catholic teaching, and whether workers can use the encyclical to justify religious exemptions to using A.I.

Links:

Pope Leo’s trip to Spain: Background on Sagrada Familia, migrant advocacy and a changing Catholic landscape

More than one million attend Pope Leo’s...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell discuss EWTN News President and COO Montserrat “Montse” Alvarado as prefect of the Vatican’s dicastery for communications. They unpack some of the challenges currently facing the dicastery and analyze the appointment in light of the Vatican’s previously strained relationship with EWTN. In the second half of the show, Gerry gives a preview of Pope Leo’s trip to Spain next week.

0:00 Intro

0:48 The dicastery for communications’ challenges

3:32 Montse Alvarado’s appointment and experience

6:38 First lay woman to head a...

This week on a 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. 

Links:

Read “Magnifica Humanitas”

Pop...

Pope Leo released his encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, on “safeguarding the human person in the time of artificial intelligence” today, May 25.

(Read the encyclical here. And find America Magazine's extensive coverage of the encyclical here.)

Pope Leo presented the encyclical at the Vatican along with the panel of experts, including Christopher Olah, a co-founder of one of the world’s leading AI developers, Anthropic.

In a speech at the presentation, Leo stressed that the encyclical had been born out of a process of listening–to scientists and engineers developing AI; political leaders, parents, and teachers...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell look ahead to Pope Leo’s forthcoming encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” which is rumored to be a long document dealing with themes of artificial intelligence and humanity. Ahead of the document’s expected release on May 25, Gerry and Colleen recap what is already known about the document, the Vatican’s previous work on A.I. and how encyclicals are written.

Links:

Pope Leo will publish first encyclical, ‘Magnifica Humanitas,’ on preserving humanity in the A.I. age on May 25

Bishop Flores: Pope Leo’s AI encycl...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Gerard O’Connell and Colleen Dulle discuss U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Pope Leo XIV, along with recent developments between the Vatican and the Society of St. Pius X, which has committed to illicitly ordain bishops without the Vatican’s approval. In the second part of the show, Colleen and Gerry look at the pope’s visits to Pompeii and Naples, and Gerry explains why he thinks Pope Leo’s forthcoming encyclical won’t be published as expected on May 15.

Links from the show:

Vatican warns SS...

One year ago today, Leo XIV was elected the first pope from the United States of America. A year into his papacy, we examine how the U.S. evolved from a nation with a long history of anti-Catholicism to one welcoming an American-born pope, and why the cardinals defied a longstanding taboo against a pope from a global superpower.

Interviews include:

- Kathleen Sprows Cummings, the John A. O’Brien Collegiate Professor of American Studies and History at the University of Notre Dame

- Christopher Lamb, CNN Vatican Correspondent and author of The Ou...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Gerry O’Connell gives Colleen Dulle an inside look at Pope Leo XIV’s visit to four African countries. Between speaking out against corruption in Cameroon, denouncing inequality in Angola and visiting a prison in Equatorial Guinea, Gerry notes that Pope Leo never strayed from his central message of peace and justice—even when a Truth Social post from U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to overshadow it.

0:00 Intro

1:02 Why did Pope Leo go to Africa?

5:20 Pope Leo visits the basilica of Augustine

10:00 Po...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Archbishop Joseph Marino, former president of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy which trains Vatican diplomats, joins Colleen Dulle to give a crash course on Vatican Diplomacy: Who are nuncios? What do they do? And what difference do they really make?

Before the interview, Colleen also gives some updates on the week’s Vatican news.

00:00 Pope Leo wraps his trip to Africa

2:57 Meet Archbishop Joseph Marino

6:38 Nuncios, the Vatican's ambassadors

14:00 Do Nuncios have to be bishops?

18:25 Political diplomacy and Vatican interests

24:4...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” America Editor-in-Chief Fr. Sam Sawyer, SJ, joins Vatican Correspondent Colleen Dulle and Executive Editor Ashley McKinless for a roundtable discussion on the recent comments President Trump and other administration officials have made about Pope Leo, and the pope’s response given en route to his tour of four African countries.

In the first part of the show, Colleen gives an update on the papal journey across Africa.

0:00 Intro

0:25 Pope Leo in Algeria

1:26 Pope Leo in Cameroon

3:00 President Trump's words for Pope Leo

4:20...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen and Gerry recap a packed two weeks of Vatican news, covering Pope Leo’s first Holy Week celebrations and his comments on President Trump’s threat to wipe out ‘an entire civilization.’

After this episode was recorded, reports were published recounting a contentious meeting at the Pentagon between the nuncio to the United States, Cardinal Christophe Pierre, and Trump administration officials. Read more here: https://www.americamagazine.org/news/2026/04/09/vatican-pentagon-free-press/ 

Chapters:

0:00 Intro

1:01 Pope Leo’s message to the wealthy in Monaco

3:14 Pope says God ‘...

In March 2026, the Vatican’s doctrine office released its final report on women’s participation in the life and leadership of the Catholic Church. The report brings to a close the two-year work of Study Group 5, which, as part of the Synod on Synodality, was tasked with studying women’s ministries and leadership. In this special roundtable conversation, editors at America magazine discuss the report’s content and proposals, and ask if the document changes the status quo for women in the Catholic Church.

Featuring:

Ashley McKinless, executive editor and co-host of the “Jesuitical” podcast

Kerry...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen Dulle is joined by guest host Ashley McKinless for an interview with Gerard O’Connell and his wife and journalist Elisabetta Piqué about their new book, “The Election of Pope Leo XIV: The Last Surprise of Pope Francis.” They discuss pre-conclave maneuvering, including organized resistance to Pope Francis's reforms, as well as their decision to report conclave details despite Cardinals taking oaths of secrecy.

- 0:00 Breaking the secrecy of a conclave

- 8:10 A Vatican journalist and a war correspondent

- 12:04 Calculating the conclave vote tallies

- 15:09 P...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Gerard O’Connell and Colleen Dulle discuss Pope Leo’s consistent statements pushing for peace and an end to armed conflicts worldwide. In the second part of the show, Colleen and Gerry unpack a few brief stories including Pope Leo receiving the Liberty Medal from the National Constitution Center, his new home in the apostolic palace and the Vatican’s appeals court’s decision for a partial re-trial in the “Trial of the Century.”

0:00 Intro

1:50 Did Pope Leo tell American leaders to go to confession?

5:43 Pope Leo...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Gerard O’Connell and Colleen Dulle discuss comments from Pope Leo XIV and three cardinals on the Iran War, including one cardinal’s analysis of whether the conflict meets the requirements of a “just war.” In the second part of the show, Colleen and Gerry give an overview of the three synod study group final reports that have been released so far: on digital mission, seminaries and women’s roles in the church.

0:00 Intro

1:04 Pope Leo’s comments on Iran

7:30 Cardinal Cupich warns against ‘gamifying’ war

On Saturday morning, Feb. 28, the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran, killing its leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei along with other senior regime figures. The following day, Pope Leo appealed for peace, urging world leaders to stop “the spiral of violence before it becomes an unbridgeable chasm.” This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Veteran Vatican Correspondent Gerard O’Connell explains why he saw Leo’s comments as relatively restrained compared to John Paul II’s at the beginning of the Iraq War.

In the second part of the show, Gerry shares a story from his forthcoming book on the 20...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell discuss the announcement of several new papal trips, as well as the Society of St. Pius X’s rejection of a Vatican offer for dialogue and what could happen next. In the second part of the show, the hosts look at the situation of Ukrainian Catholics and the Vatican’s efforts to help end the war on its fourth anniversary.

0:00 Intro

0:47 Papal trips for spring announced

7:30 SSPX rejects Vatican proposal

12:33 The extra letter to SSPX that Gerry saw

17:30 Ca...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Senior Vatican Correspondent and Contributing Editor Ricardo da Silva, S.J., discuss the Vatican’s decision not to join President Trump’s Board of Peace, Pope Leo’s Lenten message, and the pope’s plans for the first Lent since his election last May.

0:00 Intro

0:35 Vatican declines Board of Peace invitation

5:06 Pope Leo’s Ash Wednesday plans

7:17 Pope Leo’s Lenten message

12:14 Inviting communities to listen during Lent

14:30 Pope Leo calls war a public health crisis

18:14 Pope Leo begins...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Gerard O’Connell and Colleen Dulle are joined by longtime Vatican journalist John Thavis to discuss the strained relationship between the Vatican and the Priestly Society of St. Pius X, after the Society said it plans to ordain new bishops July 1 with or without papal permission.

0:00 Intro

1:08 Pope Leo travel updates

4:36 What is the Society of St. Pius X?

7:14 SSPX’s beginnings and beliefs

12:46 The 1988 SSPX bishops’ ordinations

16:48 Pope Benedict and the Latin Mass

22:24 Benedict lifts excommunic...

Bishop Kevin Kenney was born in Minneapolis and has ministered to Latino communities there for years. Now an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, he speaks to America about the realities facing Latino Catholics on the ground and what the Catholic Church is doing to support them.

0:00 ICE outside churches and schools

4:45 How the Catholic Church is responding

10:00 Targeting criminals only?

11:45 Preaching during the crisis

15:12 Ministering to ICE

16:45 Latinos have enriched Minneapolis

18:53 Longterm effects

23:45 Pope Leo and prioritizing immigration<...

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Junno Arocho Esteves, international correspondent for OSV News, joins host Colleen Dulle to explain what factors the Vatican is likely weighing in its decision-making on whether or not to join the “Board of Peace.”

Links from the show:

Vatican weighs joining Trump’s Board of Peace but calls for respect for international law

Top Vatican official calls violence in Minneapolis ‘unacceptable’

Pope encourages Neocatechumenal Way to continue mission ‘without closing yourselves off’

Pope Leo to visit Spain this year, with stops in Madrid, B...

On “Inside the Vatican,” America Chief Correspondent Kevin Clarke joins Colleen Dulle to discuss the cardinals’ statement, analyzing its content, precedents, and potential impact on the U.S. Catholic hierarchy.

Links from the show:

Vatican expert John Allen shaped a generation of Catholic reporters

Vatican weighs joining Trump’s Board of Peace but calls for respect for international law

Cardinals urge Trump to step back from threats on Greenland and Venezuela

Archbishop Broglio: It is ‘morally acceptable’ for troops to disobey ‘morally questionable’ orders on Greenland

Pope Leo m...

Pope Leo XIV met with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado this week, only the latest in a monthslong series of statements and meetings that have shown the Vatican repeatedly pushing for peace. This week, David Gibson of Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture joins host Colleen Dulle to discuss Pope Leo’s approach to foreign policy.

Links from the show:

New York Times Opinion: Pope Leo Confronts Trump on His Own Terms

Pope Leo meets with Venezuelan opposition leader Machado

Washington Post: Inside the frantic global race to f...

Few events in Pope Leo’s young papacy have built as much anticipation as his first consistory. Summoning the cardinals of the Catholic Church to Rome for two intense days of meetings, the pope laid out clear signals about the direction for the church and a new collaborative style of governance.

On “Inside the Vatican” this week, hosts Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell discuss the key takeaways from the consistory, including:

- The significance of the topics chosen: synodality and evangelization

- How Leo is building on Pope Francis’ legacy

- How Leo’...

The pope’s annual Christmas address to the Roman Curia was once a run-of-the-mill affair, but in 2005, the year he was elected pope, Benedict XVI used the speech to lay out his decisive vision for the implementation of the Second Vatican Council. Francis famously used the speech to decry the “diseases” of the Roman Curia.

This week, Pope Leo XIV delivered his own first Christmas address to the Curia. On a special roundtable episode of “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and producers Ricardo da Silva, S.J., and Sebastian Gomes examine how Leo’s speech continued his predeces...

The Jubilee Year is drawing to a close and Christmas is drawing near. This week on “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell cover several important arts events the Vatican has hosted in the lead-up to Christmas, including the “Concert for the Poor” featuring Michael Bublé, the Ratzinger Prize concert with conductor Riccardo Muti and a live performance about St. Peter by filmmaker Roberto Benigni.

In the second part of the show, Colleen and Gerry cover the final major event of the Jubilee of Hope: the jubilee for prisoners and those who work in...

On Dec. 4, the final report from the Vatican’s second study commission on women deacons was published, saying that women can’t be ordained to the diaconate “as understood as a degree of holy orders,” but it stopped short of an unequivocal “no” to women deacons, saying that while its “assessment is strong…it does not allow for a definitive judgment to be formulated at this time.”

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Vatican correspondents Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell unpack the commission’s report: how it came about, why the commission seems to have left the door open to women dea...

Today, the Vatican published the results of its second study commission on women deacons. It said that women cannot be admitted to the diaconate “as understood as a degree of holy orders.”

However, it stopped short of an unequivocal “no” to women deacons, saying that while the commission’s “assessment is strong… it does not allow for a definitive judgment to be formulated at this time, as in the case of priestly ordination.”

Stay tuned to Inside the Vatican for a more in-depth look at this story, and read Gerard O’Connell’s report here: Vatican report says...

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