Inside The Vatican

Inside The Vatican

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

Pope Leo's message for the United States' 250th anniversary

July 3, 2026 • 2 mins
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 Subscribe to America Magazine (use promo code VATICAN for $10 off an annual digital subscription) Fill out our listener survey! Learn more about your ad ch...
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Vatican excommunicates SSPX bishops, priests and others

July 3, 2026 • 2 mins
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...
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‘I doubt he will be diplomatic’: What Leo may say to the U.S. July 3

June 26, 2026 • 42 mins
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 ah...
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‘Like I’ve rarely seen him’: Pope Leo’s visit to Spain

June 19, 2026 • 45 mins
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...
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Anna Rowlands on the ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ debates

June 11, 2026 • 40 mins
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 ju...
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EWTN president named head of Vatican communications

June 5, 2026 • 34 mins
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, Gerr...
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Pope Leo's A.I. encyclical: Top takeaways from “Magnifica Humanitas”

May 28, 2026 • 40 mins
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 ...
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Pope Leo's Encyclical: "Artificial intelligence needs to be disarmed."

May 25, 2026 • 5 mins
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, Anth...
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What we know about Pope Leo’s A.I. encyclical

May 22, 2026 • 37 mins
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...
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Marco Rubio’s Vatican visit, explained | Inside the Vatican podcast

May 15, 2026 • 36 mins
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,...
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Deep Dive: An American Pope–How it happened and what it means

May 8, 2026 • 45 mins
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 Amer...
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‘Speaking fearlessly’: Pope Leo’s Africa Trip

May 1, 2026 • 50 mins
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 Don...
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Vatican Diplomacy 101

April 24, 2026 • 35 mins
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...
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‘Don’t Take the Bait’: A Roundtable on Trump’s Pope Comments

April 17, 2026 • 23 mins
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 upd...
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Pope Leo: Trump’s Iran threat “unacceptable”

April 10, 2026 • 39 mins
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 Pierr...
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Catholic women react to the Vatican’s report on women’s leadership

April 2, 2026 • 40 mins
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 conten...
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The inside story of Pope Leo XIV’s election

March 28, 2026 • 40 mins
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 ...
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Pope Leo is using every way possible to advocate peace

March 20, 2026 • 36 mins
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&rsq...
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Is Iran a ‘just war’? U.S. Cardinals weigh in

March 13, 2026 • 40 mins
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 miss...
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Why Pope Leo was ‘economic with words’ on Iran war

March 6, 2026 • 37 mins
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 Le...
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