The Popecast: A History of the Papacy

A very special guest indeed on this week’s show. I’m joined by Elise Ann Allen, Senior Correspondent for Crux in Rome, who recently conducted the first exclusive, extensive papal interviews of Pope Leo XIV’s pontificate. Those conversations have been turned into a brand new book from Penguin Random House entitled “Leo XIV: Citizen of the World, Missionary of the 21st Century.”

We talk quite a bit about what it’s like to sit across ...

Our favorite fellow papal history buff is back with us this week, Fr. Richard Kunst from the Diocese of Duluth Minnesota, here to talk about meeting Pope Leo XIV, his huge upcoming exhibit at the Mall of America, and some other little tidbits you won’t want to miss about traveling to and around Rome.

Fr. Rich's website: ⁠papalartifacts.com⁠

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Imagine: A corpse that’s nine months dead is propped on a throne in full papal vestments, and placed on trial for various alleged offenses. A teenage deacon is assigned to answer questions on its behalf. And the present pope is screaming at the body. Well that’s our pontiff for today’s episode. The man who lost his mind, his papacy, and eventually his life over a dead guy.

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Special guest Michael Lentz of Memory Medieval joins the show this week to discuss the landmark Norman victory over papal forces at the Battle of Civitate in 1053.

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MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE

- Norman Documentary: https://youtu.be/cNzyHW6c_ME?si=xJ5KR1oAubtqquH-

- [BOOK] Warrior Churchmen of Medieval England - https://amzn.to/4qMEKhP

- [BOOK] The Normans: From Raiders to Kings - https://amzn.to/4oPyjbY

- [BOOK] Empires of the Norma...

Our pope this week bears a familiar name to us in the present day, was one half of a powerful alliance between a pope and one of the greatest Western kings to ever live, and even had something in common with the current United States president. Stay tuned to the end to find out what it is.

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The guy we’re covering this week was nothing short of a prophet. He called out society’s future ills decades before they actually happened, and reigned as pope through the assassination of an American President, the sexual revolution, and a sweeping reform in the Catholic Church.

FROM THE EPISODE:

- Church of Spies: The Pope's Secret War Against Hitler - https://amzn.to/3Hmn8XV

- Humanae Vitae (full text): https://www....

Since there's a Pope Leo in the Vatican for the first time in over a century, we thought it might be nice to learn about the ORIGINAL Leo, who came to power at one of Catholicism’s first major turning points – the collapse of the Roman Empire and the simultaneous rise of the Church as the caretaker of civilization. Spiritual and corporeal danger alike were brewing beyond the walls of the Eternal City, but this GREAT pontiff was...

HABEMUS PAPAM! The cardinals elected Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, OSA on the evening of Thursday, May 8, after which the new pontiff took the regnal name of Pope Leo XIV.

Here's our armchair reflections on the election, his first appearance to the world from St. Peter's Basilica, and what to be thinking about in the weeks and months ahead.

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Although the papal election process has over the centuries, since 1996 the Catholic Church's rules governing conclaves have stemmed from a document from Pope St. John Paul II entitled Universi Dominici Gregis.

On today's episode, we're joined by Donald Paul Maddox, author of the excellent publication In Defense of Theology on Substack and co-host of the Saints in the Parish podcast, to take a deep dive into how the upco...

Friend of the show and renowned papal memorabilia collector Fr. Richard Kunst rejoins The Popecast to talk about the Conclave of 1903 and the last instance of "jus exclusivae" – the right assumed by Catholic monarchs for centuries to veto a pick for the next pope (through their cardinal primate) if they found a particular candidate objectionable – along with various papal historical intricacies and speculations about the ...

Wayne Kalayjian is author of the new book Saving Michelangelo’s Dome: How Three Mathematicians and a Pope Sparked an Architectural Revolution, the incredible story of how precarious cracking throughout the dome of St. Peter's Basilica prompted an unprecedented collision of the greatest minds in construction, science, math, and the Catholic Church.

GET THE BOOK: Saving Michelangelo's Dome

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Our pope this week reigned at a time when the historical record wasn’t much, and we don’t know a whole lot about his life as a result. And yet his contributions to the history of the papacy have still resounded for over 1600 years.

Read Pope St. Siricius' full letter: https://thepopecast.fm/blog/siricius-decretal

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Today we chat with Andrew Gillsmith, author of the new and critically-acclaimed sci-fi novel, Our Lady of the Artilects. The book is absolutely outstanding (find the link to purchase it below) in its merging together of a plausible ultra-high-tech future and a global landscape that's shifted both geographically and spiritually.

GET THE BOOK: https://amzn.to/3E8bFpq

Find Andrew on Twitter @andrewgillsmith

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Our pope this week was your garden variety early Church pontiff – battling heresy, beautifying churches, and being an all around good guy. But one thing set him apart...sending a certain snake-expelling bishop on mission to a little island in the North Atlantic, and changing the face of the world forever.

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Our pope this week was in the Chair of Peter for barely a moment in the great lifespan of Catholic history, but his humble heart and joyful demeanor has influenced each of the three popes that have followed him and put him firmly among the most memorable and beloved pontiffs of the last several centuries.

And yes, this is the second time we’ve covered him on the show, but he deserved a refresh – after all, on the day this is bein...