Inside The Vatican
by America Media
Each week, Colleen Dulle goes behind the headlines of the biggest Vatican news stories with America’s Rome correspondent Gerard O’Connell. They'll break down complicated news stories that have a whole lot of history behind them in an understandable, engaging way. Colleen and Gerard will give you the inside scoop on what people inside the Vatican are thinking, saying—and planning.
Episodes
-
Seven million Argentines welcome Pope Leo
In this week’s episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Austen Ivereigh and Hugo Hernan Rabbia join Colleen Dulle to discuss Pope Leo’s visits to Uruguay and Argentina. In the first part of the show, Austen discusses Leo’s messages in the two countries; in the second, Hugo unpacks the findings from his...
-
Pope Leo’s Peruvian homecoming
In this week’s episode of “Inside the Vatican,” Colleen and Gerry preview Pope Leo’s planned visit to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, highlighting key events and speeches and discussing Pope Leo’s health ahead of the trip. Sign up for our new newsletter, Vatican Notebook! Chapters: 0:00 Pope Leo…
more -
What does unity mean for Pope Leo? Feat. Massimo Faggioli
In the midst of contentious elections around the world, Pope Leo XIV is preaching unity, both in the Catholic Church and in the world. But what does unity—or “unity in diversity,” as Leo often advocates—look like in practice? Church historian Massimo Faggioli joins host Colleen Dulle to talk…
more -
Leo needs “no further treatment” for cancer
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…
more -
Pope Leo’s cancer diagnosis: What we know
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...
-
‘Amoris Laetitia’ at 10: The history, tensions and legacy
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…
more -
French Catholicism Reborn? What happened on Pope Leo’s visit to France (and why it matters for all of us)
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...
-
What to expect from Pope Leo’s trip to France
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...
-
‘Baby Bishops School’: How the Vatican trains new bishops
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...
-
What’s on Pope Leo’s desk this fall
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…
more -
Pope Leo's message for the United States' 250th anniversary
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 Fill out our listener survey!
-
Vatican excommunicates SSPX bishops, priests and others
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...
-
‘I doubt he will be diplomatic’: What Leo may say to the U.S. July 3
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...
-
‘Like I’ve rarely seen him’: Pope Leo’s visit to Spain
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...
-
Anna Rowlands on the ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ debates
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…
more -
EWTN president named head of Vatican communications
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…
more -
Pope Leo's A.I. encyclical: Top takeaways from “Magnifica Humanitas”
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...
-
Pope Leo's Encyclical: "Artificial intelligence needs to be disarmed."
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...
-
What we know about Pope Leo’s A.I. encyclical
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…
more -
Marco Rubio’s Vatican visit, explained | Inside the Vatican podcast
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...
-
Deep Dive: An American Pope–How it happened and what it means
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…
more -
‘Speaking fearlessly’: Pope Leo’s Africa Trip
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...
-
Vatican Diplomacy 101
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...
-
‘Don’t Take the Bait’: A Roundtable on Trump’s Pope Comments
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 Leo: Trump’s Iran threat “unacceptable”
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...
-
Catholic women react to the Vatican’s report on women’s leadership
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…
more -
The inside story of Pope Leo XIV’s election
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...
-
Pope Leo is using every way possible to advocate peace
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…
more -
Is Iran a ‘just war’? U.S. Cardinals weigh in
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...
-
Why Pope Leo was ‘economic with words’ on Iran 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...
-
SSPX rejects Vatican dialogue offer
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…
more -
Pope Leo’s first Lent begins
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...
-
The Vatican and SSPX: A Timeline
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...
-
Minneapolis Bishop on ICE, immigration and Pope Leo
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...
-
How the Vatican is thinking about Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ invitation
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...
-
U.S. cardinals speak out against Trump on Greenland, Venezuela and Ukraine
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…
more -
Pope Leo's foreign policy
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...
-
What we learned from Pope Leo’s first consistory
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.…
more -
Pope Leo’s first Christmas address to the Vatican Curia
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...
-
Vatican hosts prisoners for final Jubilee Year event
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…
more -
The women deacons commission report, explained
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…
more -
Update: Study commission says ‘no’ to women deacons—for now
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...
-
Why is Pope Leo visiting Nicaea?
Later this week, Pope Leo XIV begins his first international apostolic visit: a six-day trip to Turkey and Lebanon from November 27 to December 2. At the center of that journey is his stop in Nicaea—today the town of İznik—where the first ecumenical council (325 A.D.) set down the Nicene Creed…
more -
Synod study groups publish reports
This week on “Inside the Vatican,” host Colleen Dulle and executive producer Sebastian Gomes unpack the news from the reports and analyze in-depth the work of the groups studying women’s ministries, seminary formation and the appointment of bishops. Links from the show: Synod study groups on...
-
Pope Leo to call world’s cardinals to Rome for meeting
On “Inside the Vatican” this week, Senior Vatican Correspondent Gerard O’Connell explains what we know about the meeting, what cardinals are expecting, and what it means that this will be Pope Leo’s first big agenda item that was not already planned for Pope Francis. Links from the show: Buy...
-
Vatican bans controversial Marian title ‘co-redemptrix’
On “Inside the Vatican” this week, Vatican correspondents Gerard O’Connell and Colleen Dulle discuss the new doctrinal statement on Mary and look at St. John Henry Newman being named a doctor of the church and co-patron of Catholic education. Links from the show: Pope Leo says ICE should allow...
-
Pope Leo’s candid Q-and-A on synodality
Pope Leo XIV delivered remarkably candid responses at a jubilee gathering for synodal teams and participatory bodies, in what senior Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell called “perhaps the most extraordinary session” he has witnessed since Leo’s election. 0:00 Intro 0:27 Interfaith peace…
more -
Inside the first exclusive interview with Pope Leo XIV
When Elise Allen, senior correspondent for Crux, sat down with Pope Leo XIV for his first full-length interview since his election, she heard echoes of Pope Francis’ inclusive vision—“todos, todos, todos”—but also a key difference. As she told Colleen Dulle and Gerard O’Connell, hosts of “Inside...
-
Has Pope Leo’s honeymoon ended? U.S. Catholics push back
Pope Leo is drawing criticism from some U.S. Catholics over his consistent pro-life ethic, particularly after responding to questions about Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich’s plan to honor Senator Dick Durbin with a lifetime achievement award, despite Durbin’s support for abortion rights. While he...
About this show
Each week, Colleen Dulle goes behind the headlines of the biggest Vatican news stories with America’s Rome correspondent Gerard O’Connell. They'll break down complicated news stories that have a whole lot of history behind them in an understandable, engaging way. Colleen and Gerard will give you the inside scoop on what people inside the Vatican are thinking, saying—and planning.
Hosted by
America Media
Categories