Inside The Vatican

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 SSPX leaders of excommunication over ‘schismatic act’ of ordaining bishops

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

Poll: Most Americans disapprove of Trump’s attacks on Pope Leo

Pope Leo prays for end to ‘fratricidal hatred’ as he celebrates anniversary in Pompeii

Follow Gerry on X: @gerryorome 

Follow Colleen on Instagram: @colleendulle 

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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 Outsider: Pope Francis and the Battle to Reform the Church and American Hope: What Pope Leo XIV Means for the Church and the World

- J.D. Long García, senior editor at America
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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 Pope Leo’s messages to Algeria

14:57 Pope denounces corruption in Cameroon

22:40 Leo visits conflict zone in Cameroon

27:10 Leo urges church to speak out in Angola

31:07 Angola’s unequal economy

34:44 Equatorial Guinea gives Leo ‘colorful welcome’

36:49 Pope Leo’s memorable prison visit

41:47 Pope Leo in-air press conference

47:41 Outro and credits

Links:

Pope Leo walks in the footsteps of St. Augustine in Hippo

Pope Leo to Cameroon’s leaders: Break the ‘chains of corruption,’ invest in young people

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

Interview: Jesuit provincial on what Pope Leo’s visit meant for Cameroon

Pope Leo: I am ‘not trying to debate the president’

Pope Leo tells Angola’s Catholic leaders: ‘Never cease to denounce injustices.’

Pope Leo calls on leaders to ‘bridge the gap’ between poor and rich in Equatorial Guinea

Asked about regime change in Iran, Pope Leo says, ‘I cannot be in favor of war.’

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

Pope Leo prays with Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally in historic encounter, vows dialogue

Follow Gerry on X: @gerryorome 

Follow Colleen on Instagram: @colleendulle 

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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

24:40 Vatican diplomacy before the Iraq war

27:08 The Vatican's diplomatic toolkit

30:15 Pope Leo's diplomatic approach

Links:

Pope Leo: I am ‘not trying to debate the president’

Pope Leo in Angola: ‘Put the common good before partisan interests’

Pope Leo to Angolans: ‘Build a country where old divisions are overcome forever’

Pope Leo tells Angola’s Catholic leaders: ‘Never cease to denounce injustices.’

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

Pope Francis remembered by those who knew him

Pope Leo’s delicate task in Equatorial Guinea: Bless the faithful, not the regime

Pope Leo calls on leaders to ‘bridge the gap’ between poor and rich in Equatorial Guinea

Pope Leo tells inmates ‘you are not alone’ during Equatorial Guinea prison visit at end of Africa tour

Pope Leo’s powerful lesson in vulnerable leadership

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

Follow Colleen on Instagram: @colleendulle 

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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 Pope Leo's criticism of war

5:40 Pope Leo's response to Trump

7:50 U.S. Bishops respond to Trump

8:47 Reactions to Trump's tirade

10:30 Did Trump influence Leo's election?

13:25 Don't take the President's bait

17:05 Impact on U.S.-Vatican relation

Links:


Interview: What Pope Leo’s visit means for Algeria’s tiny Catholic population


Pope Leo’s first trip to Africa: what you need to know


Pope Leo in Algeria: ‘The future belongs to men and women of peace’


Pope Leo walks in the footsteps of St. Augustine in Hippo


Pope Leo on plane to Cameroon: St. Augustine invites us to search for God and truth


Pope Leo to Cameroon’s leaders: Break the ‘chains of corruption,’ invest in young people


Trump is trying to distract us from Pope Leo’s calls for peace. Don’t take the bait.


South Africa’s Cardinal Brislin: Trump cannot silence Pope Leo or the church


US bishops’ doctrine chair defends church’s just war tradition after JD Vance comments

Follow Gerry on X: @gerryorome 

Follow Colleen on Instagram: @colleendulle 

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