Podcasts about vatican city state

This week, Pope Leo the 14th appointed Cardinal Blase Cupich to the pontifical commission for the Vatican City State. This has happened in light of Cupich's controversial and criticized decision last month to give an award to Senator Dick Durbin, who is pro-abortion. The SUN-TIMES reports Cupich's new post is not hugely influential, but the appointment shows Pope Leo's support for Cupich.

This week, Pope Leo the 14th appointed Cardinal Blase Cupich to the pontifical commission for the Vatican City State. This has happened in light of Cupich's controversial and criticized decision last month to give an award to Senator Dick Durbin, who is pro-abortion. The SUN-TIMES reports Cupich's new post is not hugely influential, but the appointment shows Pope Leo's support for Cupich.

This week, Pope Leo the 14th appointed Cardinal Blase Cupich to the pontifical commission for the Vatican City State. This has happened in light of Cupich's controversial and criticized decision last month to give an award to Senator Dick Durbin, who is pro-abortion. The SUN-TIMES reports Cupich's new post is not hugely influential, but the appointment shows Pope Leo's support for Cupich.

This week, Pope Leo the 14th appointed Cardinal Blase Cupich to the pontifical commission for the Vatican City State. This has happened in light of Cupich's controversial and criticized decision last month to give an award to Senator Dick Durbin, who is pro-abortion. The SUN-TIMES reports Cupich's new post is not hugely influential, but the appointment shows Pope Leo's support for Cupich.

This week, Pope Leo the 14th appointed Cardinal Blase Cupich to the pontifical commission for the Vatican City State. This has happened in light of Cupich's controversial and criticized decision last month to give an award to Senator Dick Durbin, who is pro-abortion. The SUN-TIMES reports Cupich's new post is not hugely influential, but the appointment shows Pope Leo's support for Cupich.

This week, Pope Leo the 14th appointed Cardinal Blase Cupich to the pontifical commission for the Vatican City State. This has happened in light of Cupich's controversial and criticized decision last month to give an award to Senator Dick Durbin, who is pro-abortion. The SUN-TIMES reports Cupich's new post is not hugely influential, but the appointment shows Pope Leo's support for Cupich.

NOTE: SHOW LINKS FOR ALL THE MENTIONED PODCASTERS WILL BE ADDED SOON (AND WILL ALSO BE IN THE NOTES FOR NEXT EPISODE TO ENSURE THEY GET SEEN), FOR NOW GETTING THIS OUT WHILE I CAN! TRANSCRIPT: Good Evening Everyone, Welcome to Popeular History. My name is Gregg, and this is another admin update I'll try to keep from being too boring, in part by offering some observations and speculations about the new Papacy interspersed throughout. First, some personal updates. I was very tired by the end of last week, thank you for asking. I got some rest and then made sure Vice-Pope Mrs. Popeular History's primary Mother's Day present was rest. I am immeasurably grateful for her support, but the reality is even if she weren't so supportive of this passion project of mine and the fairly unhinged extremes I took it to in the last few weeks, I would still be immeasurably grateful to her for a million other things. She's the best partner I could have ever hoped to have for so many reasons, and all of you are welcome to be jealous.   I'd also like to thank my children for being malleable enough that I can pass on my love of the faith in general and also my nerdiness to them. Patrick, Catherine, Joseph, William, Gabriel, I love you all and thank you for sharing me with the internet a bit more lately. I try to shield my children from my more concentrated geekery so they can have somewhat normal childhoods, much like I try to spare my Vice Pope so she can have a somewhat normal marriage, but I will admit I felt a special sense of pride when I heard footsteps after I had invited any of my children interested in appearing on one of my livestreams to come on down to the studio. Those footsteps were from Catherine, who was by that point a good hour and a half into a livestream of the Pope's funeral that had began at 4am our time. To be clear, the kids aren't usually up at that time–I mean, neither am I–but wanting to be on the livestream she had asked to be awakened when it began, so I woke her and set her up with a watching station before kicking things off. Days later, she still excitedly references things from it. Just one of many special times from the last couple weeks. My thanks go not only to my immediate household, but to my family beyond as well, in particular my father, who came over at another particularly uncivil hour and summoned black smoke basically as soon as he arrived so I could go rest, as well as my in-laws, who bore with me through a packed weekend of a wedding and a papal funeral. And again, Vice Pope-Mrs Popeular history through it all.   Thanks are due as well to the lovely and supportive folks at work. I wouldn't want to name anyone who would rather I not name them, so I will be general when I say the atmosphere there has been lovely, and in particular I appreciate those who knew I was their best local source for answers to questions about Popes and Cardinals and conclaves and such. I lead a charmed life these days, and work, from my team to my coworkers to those above me and those supporting me, is full of amazing people I could not appreciate more.   Before I thank even more people, including you the listeners, let's talk about the New Pope, Leo XIV, specifically, his status as an American. And please, I beg you, don't be one of the contrarians who have been trying to make “United Statesian” a thing, it's fine to call Leo XIV the First American Pope. Of course you're welcome to use the opportunity to draw attention to the fact that Pope Francis is also from “the Americas”, but “American” is the demonym for a person from the United States and there is nothing wrong with using that word in that sense, so stop trying to make fetch happen.   Anyways, Pope Leo was born on September 14, 1955, in Chicago, Illinois. The date is memorable for Catholics as the Triumph of the Cross, one of the more venerable feasts of the Church, commemorating Emperor Constantine's mother Saint Helena's apparently successful expedition to the Holy Land in search of the Cross Christ was crucified on, AKA the True Cross. Of course, many of my listeners are more captivated by the Chicago aspect, so let's hone in on that. First, to get this out of the way, yes, he was raised in Dolton, a community just *outside* Chicago, but contrarians should brace for more disappointment as it remains technically correct to describe Robert Francis Prevost as being “from Chicago”, having been born at Mercy Hospital in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the south side.   In a way, it would be somewhat surprising if Pope Leo *weren't* from the midwest, considering 80% of the 10 American Cardinals who participated in the conclave are midwesterners by birth. But also that number should actually closer to 90%, considering that's including the Irish-born Kevin Cardinal Farrell under the American tally, and by that logic the future Leo XIV should probably count as Peruvian. But I'm not gonna begrudge anyone who wants to claim the Pope as one of their own. Even without that wrinkle, I think we can agree Ireland can count as the midwest, especially given the whole Notre Dame thing.   If it were tallied as its own nationality, the Midwestern United States would be the second most represented county in the conclave, still actually in the same place that the United States currently occupies: comfortably behind Italy, and a bit ahead of Brazil.   Nor of course is Chicago unfamiliar to Cardinals in general, having had their senior cleric sporting a red hat–or getting one at the first opportunity–for  over a hundred years running, putting them in extremely rarified air, actually I think they're the only US see that can claim the red hat century club when it's set on hard mode like that, as New York's Cardinal Dolan wasn't elevated at the first opportunity, presumably because Cardinal Egan was still kicking around and Conclave-eligible for a while, and Archbishop Henning of Boston just got passed over last December despite Cardinal O'Malley having freshly aged out.   And my midwest Catholic trivia dump can't be complete without noting that spookily, Mar Awa III, the current Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East, which shares the spotlight on my upcoming 0.22 supplemental, was also born in Chicago, which may further help the ecumenical relations I discuss in that supplemental episode. Here's hoping!   One more topic relating to Pope Leo's roots I want to touch on today: His Louisiana creole and black caribbean heritage. Both of His Holiness' grandparents on his mother's side were described as black or mulatto in census documents of their day, with his mother's father, Joseph Martinez, being listed as born in Santo Domingo, now the capital of the Dominican Republic, though it was then part of Haiti, the only country to have been born as the result of a successful slave rebellion, making black heritage from that region particularly poignant.   I'll note that His Holiness' melanin levels are such that he can fairly be described as white passing, and I'd consider it unlikely that the matter was discussed during the recent conclave, though I expect then-Cardinal Prevost was aware of this bit of family history. That said, it's certainly *possible* that it was a surprise even to him. One way or another, the basic fact is that these genealogical records exist. What to make of them, I leave to those more competent than I. I will commit to circling back to the topic in time, though. For now, it's time to thank, like, a lot of podcasters.   First and foremost, you probably wouldn't be listening to this if it weren't for Bry and Fry of Pontifacts. Their support has been critical in a number of ways and I could not be more appreciative of the way they've shared their platform with me, and so much more, right down to Bry making sure I checked my email when she saw that NPR had reached out for an interview. I tragically did not have Bry's attentive support on the inbox situation when PBS invited me on solo, so that one will always be a bit of a what-if, a hint of how much harder things are without the active support of so many. So again, thank you all, especially people I'm sure I'm forgetting since I'm extremely forgetful.   I think the safest thing to do is to thank the rest of the podcasters who have collaborated with me in order of appearance this year, starting back in February with the Intelligent Speech crew, in particular my fellows on the religion panel discussion, namely Trevor Cully of the History of Persia Podcast as well as the cheekier America's Secret Wars podcast, Aurora of the Swords, Sorcery, and Socialism podcast, and Bailey of Totalus Jeffianus. What a panel we had. And oh, by the way, apparently I've got the green light to share both that and my talk on the Original Grey Eminence, François Leclerc du Tremblay on this feed, so watch out for that in due course. Oh, and uh, shoutout to David Montgomery of The Siecle for his help with French pronunciation this year, not to mention various other assists through the years. All errors are my own, and David is a good guy to know.   Thank you to Jerry of The Presidencies podcast for having me on for one of his intro quotes, his process is impeccably professional just as one would expect after having listened to his show, and it was a great honor to take part.   Thank you as well to Thomas Rillstone of the History of Aotearoa New Zealand podcast for picking a surprisingly fascinating year to solicit info about, even if your release timing was ultimately made awkward by the death of the Holy Father. Oh, I suppose I can release that for you guys as well, though really, go check out his lovely show. Aotearoa is spelled: A-O-T-E-A-R-O-A   Moving on to my guests from the recent sede vacante, the first you all heard was Umberto from the So You Think You Can Rule Persia podcast, who, in addition to offering a fascinating overview of the history of transitions among the Islamic Caliphate also it turns out had the extremely clutch ability to offer live translations of Italian, which put our humble livestream ahead of EWTN, no offense to that major network.   The following day this feed was graced by the previously mentioned Aurora, now on as half of Tsar Power, along with Roberto, who is also from The History of Saqartvelo Georgia and Quest For Power. I'll let you sort all that out from the links in the show notes, but it's worth noting that you can expect more collaboration with Roberto on this feed, starting in the not too distant future with a conversation we unwittingly recorded just hours before Pope Francis' passing, talking optimistically about the future prospects of his papacy. Fortunately there's still cause for such optimism: Habemus Papam, after all.   Right before the conclave began, I put out a Cardinal Numbers First Judgment segment with John from Prim e Time, though admittedly that episode was originally recorded over a year ago. We did have a fresher appearance from John on the Youtube side of things, as he joined us to meet the new Pope after the white smoke, having cunningly signed up for the correct smokewatch to do so, much like Umberto our live translator. Ethan from Play History on Youtube was also kind enough to join us, helping hold down the fort along with Fry while I juggled toddlers and the white smoke first billowed out. Memorable times, all.   A special thank you to all those who shared the episode I had already prepared on Cardinal Prevost with the wider world, leading to thousands of exposures and hundreds of new listeners. Which, welcome if you're one of the new listeners. Thank you for tuning in, and I promise I'll update my Episode 0 soon to help you find your way.   Ok, it's time for another bout of new Pope stuff before I fill you all in on what to expect from me moving forward. I think it's appropriate that we take a look at what Pope Leo himself has outlined as important topics and themes here at the start of his papacy.   First, peace, which was literally the first word of Leo's papacy. An emphasis on peace is no surprise, for one thing, as the newly-elected Pope Leo himself pointed out, his greeting of peace was in the tradition of the resurrected Christ Himself, and thereby an appropriate greeting for the Easter season, which Pope Francis had opened right before his death and through which Pope Leo will continue to guide the Church until Pentecost on June 8th.   The topic of peace is even less surprising in light of the rare public message from the College of Cardinals that was released just before the Conclave, pleading for peace amid escalating war. In light of that, it would have been surprising if he *hadn't* come out advocating for peace. As is, it's definitely a core message, and needless to say a timely one too, with Pope Leo already echoing the late Pope Francis' observation that World War III is already being fought piecemeal.    The appeal for peace does seem to be getting a bit of traction, with India and Pakistan agreeing to a ceasefire, and the Trump administration proposing the Vatican as a mediator in the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine. If you don't look in the box marked Gaza or consider the actual likelihood of a breakthrough in Ukraine, you might be tempted to feel hopeful: admittedly as you can probably tell I'm more on the skeptical end myself, though I'd be happy to be wrong.   Another topic Pope Leo emphasized in his first speech–and repeatedly since–is togetherness, which could also be filed under dialog or even unity: the interplay between commonality and difference is critical here, and the most consistent analogy is one very suitable to his role as Pope, that of a bridge-builder, a pontifex in Latin, a traditional title of Popes for centuries, though probably not one that really traces back to the ancient Roman priestly title of Pontifex Maximus directly, as it seems to have been primarily added to the Pope's titles during the renaissance, when the classical world was very fashionable. Now, to really tie the old and the new together, I can tell you that a title once held by Julius Caesar is Pope Leo's handle on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter: @Pontifex.   When it comes to the Papacy, concepts like building bridges and promoting togetherness play out on multiple levels. First, as pastor of the giant flock known as Catholicism, we can talk about healing divisions within the church. Then, we can talk about healing divisions among all of Christianity, since the Pope is the head of the largest Christian group–and frankly it's always worth noting that most Christians are Catholics. But really, getting arrogant about it isn't the way to bring people on board, and from what I can tell so far Leo seems to have taken that lesson from Francis to heart–not that humility is a novel lesson in the history of the Papacy that Francis just invented, but still, give the guy his due..   Lastly, though certainly not leastly, what about healing divisions all over the world, not just among all Christians or even among all religions, but among all people? We're talking about the Vicar of Christ here, the idea of “not my circus, not my monkies” does not apply, and the more divisions across humanity are healed, the more likely we are to see enduring peace. So, Pope Leo has his work cut out for him, indeed I daresay we all do, as I am going to charitably assume you all want to make the world a better place.   Another priority of the new Pontiff is one that came to light even before his first speech: Vatican-watchers know that modern Popes don't just pick names at random, for example Pope Francis was strongly broadcasting that he was going to do something different by being the first  in the modern era to choose a truly new Papal name. As for Pope Leo, my first impression was quickly confirmed, as Pope Leo XIII looms large in modern Catholic history and his encyclical Rerum Novarum was a watershed moment in the development of modern Catholic Social Teaching, which is a foundational enough topic that I capitalized all those words and you will absolutely catch folks calling Catholic Social Teaching “CST” for short. Before Pope Francis, when you were talking about social justice in a Catholic context–which, by the way, is the context where the idea first gained traction, being popularized among the Jesuits in the early 19th century–anyways before Pope Francis, when you were talking about social justice in a Catholic context, you were talking about Pope Leo and Rerum Novarum, published in 1891 as a critique of modern economic systems from Capitalism to Communism and all over, emphasizing the fundamental importance of worker's rights given, well, the fundamental importance of workers themselves, as human beings with divine dignity. The Church has been revisiting Rerum Novarum on a regular basis ever since, and Pope Leo has explicitly centered it for those wondering what to expect from his papacy. To borrow the language of a generation slightly ahead of me, it's based, so get hype.   Of course lots of people are wondering what Pope Leo will get up to beyond these key starts of peace, unity, and social justice in the mold of so many of his predecessors. We can be here all day and I still won't be able to comment on every individual topic, nor will h e. We'll see more of Pope Leo in the years to come. Of course we can look to his past comments on anything you like, but the basic reality is Robert Francis Prevost is dead, and  Pope Leo XIV is a different man. At least, he may be, anyhow. History has shown election to the Papacy can change folks, but it's also shown that that's not always the case. Sorry to disappoint those looking for surefire answers, we'll find out together in the coming years and quite possibly decades, as, at 69, Pope Leo will likely be with us for a generation.   BUT, and this is a big but, I do think from what he's indicated so far and from the apparent expectations of the Cardinals who elected him, not to mention historical patterns, I do think it's very likely that Pope Leo will, on the whole, prove to be something of a centrist. That's not to say that he'll be middle-of-the-road on all issues–I really do expect him to lean into the Leonine legacy of Rerum Novarum-style social and economic justice with a major encyclical on the topic within the next few years–but on average I do not expect him to be as progressive as Pope Francis or as conservative as Pope Benedict. Again, how exactly that all will shake out remains to be seen, and I am very bad at making predictions anyways. After all, when I got asked directly about the possibility of an American Pope, I gave a simple “no” and moved on. In my defense, apparently the future Pope Leo did the same, allegedly telling his brother “they're not going to pick an American Pope” on the eve of the conclave that did just that.   Now I want to take a moment to thank some non-podcasters who have been very supportive of my work the last few years, specifically the priests at my home parish of Saint Francis de Sales. Shoutout Fr. Mike, Fr. PC, and Fr. Sizemore, who have all supported me in various ways both in relation to the podcast and off-mic. In particular I want to thank Fr. PC for helping review my upcoming worldbuilding episodes on mass and the Eucharist to make sure I didn't go too far off the rails, and Fr. Sizemore for his consistent support and encouragement of my work, as well as his willingness to promote it. Longtime listeners know that I am willing to set aside the Pope-colored glasses to offer necessary critiques of the Church at times–indeed, necessary critiques are actually themselves part of Pope-colored glasses anyways. It's been very cool to have that support even when offering that criticism at times, and I am, of course, grateful.   To give a little more personal insight, I think it's worth noting that I'm bringing Fr Sizemore and Fr PC up in part because they're on my mind and in my prayers a little extra these days since they are going to another parish as part of the normal juggling that occurs with basically any diocese. Back in the day such moves were less common, and could indeed be signs of darker things, but more recent practice has keeping priests from staying at a particular parish for too extended a period as a guard against exactly such dark things as may occur when a pastor is seen as the absolute bedrock of a faith community and is effectively given all sorts of extra deference and leeway and such to an inappropriate degree. In the end, Christ is the foundation, it's not about any particular pastor. Nevertheless, I will miss Fr Sizemore deeply, as excited as I am to see what he does at his new parish, and as excited as I am to meet our new pastor, Father Tom Gardner, and the other priest and a half that are coming to Saint Francis as part of the general shuffle. Interestingly, this will have our household lined up with a relatively young priest, a relatively young bishop, and a relatively young Pope, so these positions are likely going to be set in my life for a while yet.   And now that we've talked a bit about the future of my home parish, let's talk about the future of Popeular History.   First, as you've already seen if you're caught up on the feed, I have some content from Conclave Time still being edited and prepared for release on this feed. In the last week or so you've seen my chat with Benjamin Jacobs of Wittenberg to Westphalia and Why Tho?, who had me on as his guest of his 100th episode for the former. He's more like me than most, so if you enjoy this, go check him out. And if you don't enjoy this, well, I'm confused as to the sequence of events that has you somehow still listening, but even then, you should *also* still go  check him out. Just in case. You never know.   Also already released is a chat with Meredith of The Alexander Standard, another Rexypod in the mold of Cardinal Numbers and of course Pontifacts, reviewing, rating, and ranking all the successors of Alexander the Great from Perdiccas to Cleopatra VII. Meredith bravely volunteered to take the first spot on what was a near nightly guest list during the recent sede vacante, and we had a great chat that you should go check out if you haven't already.   Still to come most likely this month is a very extended conversation I had with Steve Guerra of the History of the Papacy Podcast, a collaboration that was pretty long overdue. I first reached out to Steve over five years ago when Popeular History was just starting out, but I was too timid to propose a collaboration at the time. I was actually still too timid to suggest such a thing when Pope Francis' fading health got us talking again earlier this year, but fortunately for all of us Steve had no such scruples and when he suggested we get together over a couple of mics, well, so far we've got hours of good stuff that will be ready for your ears very shortly, I just wanted to get all this admin stuff and early Leo discussion out first so I did. But you can expect hours of Steve and I on this feed soon, and if you just can't wait–don't! Bec ause it's already out on his feed at the History of the Papacy Podcast. Part III talking Leo specifically is already in the works, with hopefully more to come from Steve and I collaborating in the years to come.   After that, you'll hear a chat I had with Quinn from Nobelesse Oblige, one half of another rexypod that ranks all the nobel laureates from 1901 until he and cohost Maggie run out of people. Their show was on hiatus, but is back now, so rejoice! All the best shows go on hiatus, like, a lot, amirite? Look, subscribe and you'll know when any shows with that particular habit get back. Anyways, that's gonna be another conclave second helping episode.   The third on the conclave second helping trilogy, likely appearing early next month at this rate with apologies to my patient guest, will be a great chat I had right before the doors were sealed with none other than Garry Stevens of the History in the Bible podcast, in which I fielded his conclave questions and talked about the recent movie as well. Thank you as always, Garry, especially for your patience as I edited my way through our chat!   After that puts a cap on my conclave coverage, it'll be high time to release the previously mentioned chat I had with Roberto of Tsar Power and more, right before Pope Francis passed.   And there you go, that's the plan for the next month or so. After all that, it'll be 5th anniversary time, and I think it'll be fun to do a bit of Q&A for that. The anniversary will officially on June 29th, so let's go ahead and say send in almost any question you like to popeularhistory@gmail.com by June 20th and I'll answer it for you on the show. The only limit I'm placing is that the question should be relatively family-friendly so I don't get flagged as explicit content by the powers that be.    After that, well, we'll see. Popeular History and Cardinal Numbers will be carrying on, I'm looking forward to finishing my longrunning Catholic worldbuilding series, as well as covering all the living Cardinals I haven't gotten to yet. And those items just represent finishing up the current stages. Plus, tere's gonna be more Pontifacts collaboration, including the much hyped Habemus Pointsam project, ranking all the Papal transitions with Bry! But do  keep in mind I had *just* put out a note indicating that I was going to stay on hiatus for a while longer right before all this happened, and the factors that lead me to that are still present. I've got a strong head of steam for when I'm officially back up to full production, but until then, you won't hear from me quite as regularly as I'd like. Actually, let's be honest, you're never going to hear from me as regularly as I'd like unless there's a wealthy patron who wants to hand over a living wage for myself and my family as compensation for me doing this full-time. And nah, I'm not counting on that. I do have a patreon though, so if you want to help offset my costs and fuel Taco Bell expeditions or moving to Rome, you know, little things like that, you can. Mary specifically said I can get Taco Bell every time I get a new patron, so thank you very much in advance. Also, a big thank you to Joe, my current patron, who hosts Prime Factors with his son Abram, and yes that's another Rexypod, in fact, yes, that's another Rexypod ranking the British Prime Ministers! Prime Time is the other one in case you've already forgotten, and now you can easily find both of them on one another's feeds as they recently did a collaborative special you should absolutely check out! I especially owe Joe as I forgot to keep mentioning him when speeding through my recent sede vacante coverage, a situation which will be remedied hopefully in small part by this note, and then eventually with judicious editing. Thanks again for your support, Joe!   If you'd like to support my work and are financially able to do so, go to Patreon.com/popeular. I'm going to do as much as I can even without many patrons, but more patron support  would go a long way to making things easier, I have to admit. So if you want to join Joe on the wall of ongoing thanks, there are still spots left! And if you can't support financially, no sweat, do what you gotta do, but please consider spreading the word about Popeular History and keeping me and my family in prayer while you're at it. Words of encouragement or any other words you'd like to send can be sent to popeularhistory@gmail.com or you can also find me on social media in a few spots, primarily on Bluesky these days at Popeular as I'm focusing more on direct content creation rather than trying to keep up with socials and the website and such. Oh, speaking of the website, Google Domains went caput so the website's kind of frozen, not that I was updating it much anyways apart from the automatic RSS feeds, which for what it's worth are still chugging along. But the rest you can ignore, in particular the big daily show announcement that's still up there, because that was fun while it lasted but that is definitely on the list of things that are not happening unless I get thousands of patreon dollars a month to make this a full-time job, which, again, I am realistic enough to not expect. It just turns out I can't take that notification down without tanking the whole site at the moment, or without, you know, a fair amount of extra work, and since the RSS feeds are still handy and my time is still fairly crunched, I'm reluctant to do that. So, uh, here we are. Awkward. Ignore the big daily show announcement. Thank you.   Now, I'm going to make a couple specific predictions about the future of Leo's papacy that I'd be happy to be wrong about. But before I do *that*, I want to note that after today, apart from the contemporary cardinals episodes, I plan to get back to history, leaving current events to other commentators generally, with the exception of a plan to have some commentary on contemporary news, Catholic and otherwise, available as bonus content for my Patreon subscribers. That would allow my regular listeners to have access to all the historical goodies I find without barrier, while still offering something interesting and informative, you know, hopefully, for my backers. If you hate the idea, let me know, and of course if you love the idea, sure, let me know that too. I'm thinking maybe some kind of monthly roundup, something like that.   Anyways, on to those predictions. First, while I genuinely believe we would have seen Sister Rafaella Petrini elevated to the College of Cardinals had Pope Francis lived to create another batch of Cardinals, I do not see that happening under Pope Leo, though he did reconfirm her in her role as President of the Governorate of Vatican City State as part of his general “as you were” instructions right after his election, reconfirming all of Pope Francis' appointments in one of the more unambiguous signs of continuity you can have. It's of course likely that there will be shuffling in time, but I think Petrini is safe in her role, I just don't expect her to be the first Cardinelle at the next opportunity, as Leo appears interested in a degree of centrist rapprochement.   Similarly, while I had fairly big hopes for the observances of the 1700th anniversary of Nicea that were due this month, namely a reunified dating of Easter, obviously those observances aren't happening right now. And, while it look like there are now plans for later this year, around the Feast of Saint Andrew–November 30th–I think that moment has passed, and I expect it's not something we'll see in year one of a Papacy. Again, I'd be happy to be wrong, but I don't think that's a “coming super  soon” type situation at this point. And that's it for today, thanks for sitting through a record-breaking amount of admin. Thanks, Joe!

Hey Chicos! Francisco and I just dropped a brand-new episode of Spanish Loops — and trust me, it's really interesting.We're diving into the huge moment the world just witnessed: the election of Pope Leo XIV, the brand-new leader of the Catholic Church and head of the Vatican City State.What's fascinating? He's Pope number 267 in history and only the third non-European pope ever elected. That alone says a lot! Chosen after a relatively quick conclave, he seems to be following in the footsteps of the late Pope Francis — but of course, only time will tell how his papacy unfolds.In this episode, Fran and I walk you through his incredible journey — from his roots and ancestry to his years as a missionary, and the roles he's held within his congregation. We also touch on how people back in his home country are reacting to his election.It's a true intro to the man who now has the eyes of the world watching his every move. Whether you're religious, curious, or just into global affairs, this is a must-listen.Go check it out, share with your people, and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a beat with us!Let's loop into history together.

Hey Chicos! Francisco and I just dropped a brand-new episode of Spanish Loops — and trust me, it's really interesting.We're diving into the huge moment the world just witnessed: the election of Pope Leo XIV, the brand-new leader of the Catholic Church and head of the Vatican City State.What's fascinating? He's Pope number 267 in history and only the third non-European pope ever elected. That alone says a lot! Chosen after a relatively quick conclave, he seems to be following in the footsteps of the late Pope Francis — but of course, only time will tell how his papacy unfolds.In this episode, Fran and I walk you through his incredible journey — from his roots and ancestry to his years as a missionary, and the roles he's held within his congregation. We also touch on how people back in his home country are reacting to his election.It's a true intro to the man who now has the eyes of the world watching his every move. Whether you're religious, curious, or just into global affairs, this is a must-listen.Go check it out, share with your people, and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss a beat with us!Let's loop into history together.

pWotD Episode 2928: Pope Leo XIV Welcome to Popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 7,581,477 views on Thursday, 8 May 2025 our article of the day is Pope Leo XIV.Pope Leo XIV (born Robert Francis Prevost; September 14, 1955) is the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State. He was elected pope in the 2025 conclave on May 8, 2025, following the death and funeral of Pope Francis.Born in Chicago, Prevost became a friar of the Order of Saint Augustine in 1977 and was ordained a priest in 1982. His service has included extensive missionary work in Peru from 1985 to 1986 and from 1988 to 1998, where he variously served as a parish pastor, diocesan official, seminary teacher, and administrator. Elected prior general of the Order of Saint Augustine from 2001 to 2013, he later returned to Peru as Bishop of Chiclayo from 2015 to 2023. In 2023, Pope Francis appointed him prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, and made him a cardinal the same year.A citizen of the United States by birth and Peru by naturalization, Leo XIV is the first pope from the U. S. or North America, the first from Peru, and the second from the Americas after Francis. He is the first pope from the Order of Saint Augustine. His papal name was inspired by Pope Leo XIII, who developed Catholic social teaching.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 07:35 UTC on Sunday, 11 May 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Pope Leo XIV on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm generative Danielle.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, or Pope Francis, was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2013 until his death on April 21, 2025. Join Community Church of Devore Pastor, Marco Quintana, James Kitizaki, and Davy Rosengreen as they discuss his death and its effect on the Roman Catholic Church.

TRANSCRIPT Welcome to Popeular History, History through Pope-colored glasses. My name is Gregg. As you know, Pope Francis passed away yesterday, and the Catholic Church is in a period of transition. I spoke about my podcast plans for the present sede vacante yesterday, so if you want more on that look there. Today I'd like to talk a bit about Pope Francis. Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who became Pope Francis, knew all along that he was a man, but he also knew that people–literally billions around the world by the end of his life–wanted him to be more than a man to them. Not just Catholics, but Protestants, Jews, Muslims, Agnostics, Atheists and the great many who don't know exactly what to make of all the theology stuff or who decided long ago it doesn't fundamentally matter to them: across the varied spectrum of humanity Pope Francis caught the attention not only of the faithful and their varied spiritual siblings and cousins but also of the faithless and the hopeless, both inside and outside the Church. From where I sit–and I'm no authority but here we are, you've tuned in to hear me for some reason–much of Pope Francis' impact was actually on secular attitudes towards the Church. He knew how to capture imaginations, especially the nebulous imagination of the media. Having broadly sympathetic coverage from the secular media may have been a blessing for Church leaders more broadly, but it left plenty of questions–many by design, as he famously loved to make a mess and would encourage others to do the same. Because doing the right thing often gets complicated, and messy, and uncomfortable. The fundamental question arising from this willingness to make a mess was simple: where was Pope Francis taking the Church? With so many of his biggest fans either outside the Church or openly dissenting within it, it was a fair question. One of Pope Francis' refrains–todos, todos, todos, “everyone, everyone, everyone” played out against the background of a divided faith and world. Everyone might be welcome according to Pope Francis, but how could everyone find what they were looking for if they decided to come in? No matter what, whether by action or inaction, he was going to frustrate some. In the end, those looking for substantial change would be substantially disappointed. And yet, those looking for no change at all would be disappointed as well. Fundamentally, Pope Francis was a moderate force seeking to keep disparate factions together, and he was willing to use ambiguity to do so. He wasn't always ambiguous, in fact he wasn't always *anything* so much as a man who loved to surprise and who understood well the impact of such surprises. He did have some misfires, but in his honor for today I won't dwell on what I think those were. On the whole, I'm willing to describe myself as a fan, though I'm not sure that's saying much, since I've been unironically a fan of every Pope in my lifetime. Yes, even that one. In addition to his successes and the occasional misfire, Pope Francis had his turn managing a number of longstanding largely intractable issues where the Vatican famously thinking in centuries applies. No real conclusions were reached in the Church's strained relationships with China and the Orthodox, with perhaps mild improvement being seen in both, and it really is a shame we did not have the chance to see any fruit of the celebrations for the 1700th anniversary of Nicaea that Patriarch Bartholomew had been planning with Pope Francis right from the beginning of his papacy, which were set to finally take place next month. Perhaps his successor will keep that commitment, but that's a topic for another day. Meanwhile, Pope Francis' pontificate will most likely be remembered as a period of rapprochement when it comes to LGBT individuals–ok, perhaps not so much the T, but I think it's fair to say he put in some real effort in outreach to the marginalized there and elsewhere. On the perennial topic of curial reform, he did a lot, but I don't know that he really fundamentally changed a lot, with one exception: I would argue Pope Francis' most significant reform came with his promotion of women to positions of real power within the Church. Now,  I respect the right of anyone, especially any woman, to laugh me out of the room when I say that, with him at best politely listening to many women's concerns. BUT, normalizing the presence of women within the body that nominates bishops without facing significant pushback thus making it extremely likely to stick, that was in my opinion quite a feat, and he didn't stop there, ultimately capping off his promotion of women with his designation of Sr. Raffaella Petrini as the President of the Governorate of Vatican City State. Basically the Vatican's Prime Minister. Nor do I think he was done there when his time came, as all previous holders of that title had been Cardinals, and, well, I wouldn't put it past him. However, with his passing, all that and more, from the inside baseball liturgy wars to the broad sweep of ecumenism to more secular questions will be questions for his successors. For today, let's pray an Ave for his repose. In nomine Patri, et Filii, et Spiritui Sancti, amen.  Áve María, grátia pléna, Dóminus técum. Benedícta tu in muliéribus, et benedíctus frúctus véntris túi, Iésus. Sáncta María, Máter Déi, óra pro nóbis peccatóribus, nunc et in hóra mórtis nóstrae. Amen. In nomine Patri, et Filii, et Spiritui Sancti, amen.   

pWotD Episode 2912: Pope John Paul II Welcome to Popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 263,814 views on Tuesday, 22 April 2025 our article of the day is Pope John Paul II.Pope John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus II; Italian: Giovanni Paolo II; Polish: Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła, Polish: [ˈkarɔl ˈjuzɛv‿vɔjˈtɨwa]; 18 May 1920 – 2 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his death in 2005.In his youth, Wojtyła dabbled in stage acting. He graduated with excellent grades from an all-boys high school in Wadowice, Poland, in 1938, soon after which World War II broke out. During the war, to avoid being kidnapped and sent off to a German forced labour camp, he signed up for work in harsh conditions in a quarry. Wojtyła eventually took up acting and developed a love for the profession and participated at a local theatre. The linguistically skilled Wojtyła wanted to study Polish at university. Encouraged by a conversation with Adam Stefan Sapieha, he decided to study theology and become a priest. Eventually, Wojtyła rose to the position of Archbishop of Kraków and then a cardinal, both positions held by his mentor. Wojtyła was elected pope on the third day of the second papal conclave of 1978, and became one of the youngest popes in history. The conclave was called after the death of John Paul I, who served only 33 days as pope. Wojtyła adopted the name of his predecessor in tribute to him.John Paul II was the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI in the 16th century, as well as the third-longest-serving pope in history after Pius IX and St. Peter. John Paul II attempted to improve the Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, Islam, and the Eastern Orthodox Church in the spirit of ecumenism, holding atheism as the greatest threat. He maintained the Church's previous positions on such matters as abortion, artificial contraception, the ordination of women, and a celibate clergy, and although he supported the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, he was seen as generally conservative in their interpretation. He put emphasis on family and identity, while questioning consumerism, hedonism and the pursuit of wealth. He was one of the most-travelled world leaders in history, visiting 129 countries during his pontificate. As part of his special emphasis on the universal call to holiness, John Paul II beatified 1,344 people, and canonised 483 saints, more than the combined tally of his predecessors during the preceding five centuries. By the time of his death, he had named most of the College of Cardinals, consecrated or co-consecrated many of the world's bishops, and ordained many priests.He has been credited with fighting against dictatorships for democracy and with helping to end communist rule in his native Poland and the rest of Europe. Under John Paul II, the Catholic Church greatly expanded its influence in Africa and Latin America and retained its influence in Europe and the rest of the world. On 19 December 2009, John Paul II was proclaimed venerable by his successor, Benedict XVI, and on 1 May 2011 (Divine Mercy Sunday) he was beatified. On 27 April 2014, he was canonised together with John XXIII. He has been criticised for allegedly, as archbishop under Communist Poland, having been insufficiently harsh in acting against the sexual abuse of children by priests, though the allegations themselves have been criticised. Posthumously he has been referred to by some Catholics as Pope St. John Paul the Great, though that title is not official.Under John Paul II, two of the most important documents of the contemporary Catholic Church were drafted and promulgated: the 1983 Code of Canon Law, which revised and updated the 1917 Code of Canon Law, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the first universal catechism to be issued since the Roman Catechism.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 02:52 UTC on Wednesday, 23 April 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Pope John Paul II on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm generative Danielle.

pWotD Episode 2911: Pope Benedict XVI Welcome to Popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 624,120 views on Monday, 21 April 2025 our article of the day is Pope Benedict XVI.Pope Benedict XVI (Latin: Benedictus XVI; Italian: Benedetto XVI; German: Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Alois Ratzinger, German: [ˈjoːzɛf ˈʔaːlɔɪ̯s ˈʁat͡sɪŋɐ]; (16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as pope occurred in the 2005 papal conclave that followed the death of Pope John Paul II. Upon his resignation, Benedict chose to be known as "Pope emeritus", and he retained this title until his death in 2022.Ordained as a priest in 1951 in his native Bavaria, Ratzinger embarked on an academic career and established himself as a highly regarded theologian by the late 1950s. He was appointed a full professor in 1958 when aged 31. After a long career as a professor of theology at several German universities, he was appointed Archbishop of Munich and Freising and created a cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1977, an unusual promotion for someone with little pastoral experience. In 1981, he was appointed Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, one of the most important dicasteries of the Roman Curia. From 2002 until he was elected pope, he was also Dean of the College of Cardinals. Before becoming pope, he had been "a major figure on the Vatican stage for a quarter of a century"; he had had an influence "second to none when it came to setting church priorities and directions" as one of John Paul II's closest confidants.Benedict's writings were prolific and generally defended traditional Catholic doctrine, values, and liturgy. He was originally a liberal theologian but adopted conservative views after 1968. During his papacy, Benedict advocated a return to fundamental Christian values to counter the increased secularisation of many Western countries. He viewed relativism's denial of objective truth, and the denial of moral truths in particular, as the central problem of the 21st century. Benedict also revived several traditions and permitted greater use of the Tridentine Mass. He strengthened the relationship between the Catholic Church and art, promoted the use of Latin, and reintroduced traditional papal vestments, for which reason he was called "the pope of aesthetics". He also established personal ordinariates for former Anglicans and Methodists joining the Catholic Church. Benedict's handling of sexual abuse cases within the Catholic Church and opposition to usage of condoms in areas of high HIV transmission was substantially criticised by public health officials, anti-AIDS activists, and victim's rights organizations.On 11 February 2013, Benedict announced his (effective 28 February 2013) resignation, citing a "lack of strength of mind and body" due to his advanced age. His resignation was the first by a pope since Gregory XII in 1415, and the first without external pressure since Celestine V in 1294. He was succeeded by Francis on 13 March 2013 and moved into the newly renovated Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in Vatican City for his retirement. In addition to his native German language, Benedict had some level of proficiency in French, Italian, English, and Spanish. He also knew Portuguese, Latin, Biblical Hebrew, and Biblical Greek. He was a member of several social science academies, such as the French Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 03:27 UTC on Tuesday, 22 April 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Pope Benedict XVI on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Niamh.

pWotD Episode 2853: Pope Francis Welcome to Popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 234,756 views on Saturday, 22 February 2025 our article of the day is Pope Francis.Pope Francis (Latin: Franciscus; Italian: Francesco; Spanish: Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State. He is the first pope from the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), the first from the Americas and the Southern Hemisphere, and the first born or raised outside Europe since the 8th-century Syrian pope Gregory III.Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Bergoglio was inspired to join the Jesuits in 1958 after recovering from severe illness. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969; from 1973 to 1979, he was the Jesuit provincial superior in Argentina. He became the archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998 and was created a cardinal in 2001 by Pope John Paul II. He led the Argentine Church during the December 2001 riots in Argentina; the administrations of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner considered him to be a political rival.Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013, a papal conclave elected Bergoglio as his successor on 13 March. He chose Francis as his papal name in honour of Saint Francis of Assisi. Throughout his public life, Francis has been noted for his humility, emphasis on God's mercy, international visibility as pope, concern for the poor and commitment to interreligious dialogue. He is known for having a less formal approach to the papacy than his predecessors by, for instance, choosing to reside in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guest house rather than in the papal apartments of the Apostolic Palace used by previous popes.Francis has made women full members of dicasteries in the Roman Curia. He maintains that the Catholic Church should be more sympathetic toward members of the LGBTQ+ community and has stated that while blessings of same-sex unions are not permitted, the individuals can be blessed as long as blessings are not given in a liturgical context. Francis is a critic of unbridled capitalism, consumerism, and overdevelopment; he has made action on climate change a leading focus of his papacy. He is widely interpreted as denouncing the death penalty as intrinsically evil, stating that the Catholic Church is committed to its abolition. In international diplomacy, Francis has criticized the rise of right-wing populism, called for the decriminalization of homosexuality, helped to restore full diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba, negotiated a deal with China to define how much influence the Communist Party has in appointing Chinese bishops, and has supported the cause of refugees. He has called on the Western world to increase immigration levels significantly. In 2022, he apologized for the Church's role in the "cultural genocide" of the Canadian Indigenous peoples. On 4 October 2023, Francis convened the beginnings of the Synod on Synodality which was described as the culmination of his papacy and the most important event in the Catholic Church since the Second Vatican Council.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 02:08 UTC on Sunday, 23 February 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Pope Francis on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Joey.

This week's episode of “Jesuitical” features a conversation with James T. Keane, senior editor at America and columnist for the Catholic Book Club, a weekly newsletter on literature and the arts. Jim's new book, Reading Culture Through Catholic Eyes, explores 50 Catholic writers, thinkers, and “firebrands” who have influenced Catholic culture—and yes, as Jim's colleagues, we may sound a little biased when we say it's well worth the read. Just take our word for it. Even better, grab a copy and see for yourselves.  Zac, Ashley and Jim discuss:  - What makes someone a “Catholic writer”  - Why so many of us get stuck on the same Catholic writers  - The works of three lesser-known Catholic authors: Myles Connolly, Andre Dubus and Mary Karr In Signs of the Times, Zac and Ashley discuss inauguration prayers for the 47th U.S. president Donald J. Trump offered by Pope Francis, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Father Frank Mann and Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde; the Cuban government's plan to release 553 prisoners in response to Pope Francis' Jubilee request to set the captives free; and increased family benefits for Vatican City-State employees. Links for further reading:  Reading Culture through Catholic Eyes: 50 Writers, Thinkers, and Firebrands Who Challenge and Change Us Pope Francis assures Donald Trump of his prayers, but says mass deportations would be a ‘disgrace' If the Catholic Church is pro-life, why is its maternity leave so bad? After the election, people may know your political party—but will they know you're a Christian? God lifts up the underdogs Lean into love, not fear, this World Day of Migrants and Refugees, Beirut Jesuit pastor tells preachers You can follow us on X and on Instagram @jesuiticalshow.   You can find us on Facebook at facebook.com/groups/jesuitical.  Please consider supporting Jesuitical by becoming a digital subscriber to America Media at americamagazine.org/subscribe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” host Ricardo da Silva, S.J., filling in for Colleen Dulle, speaks with Gerard O'Connell about Pope Francis' recent interview on Italian TV. In the interview, given on the eve of the U.S. presidential inauguration, the pope announced that by March he would appoint a woman to lead the Vatican City-State government. He also criticized President Donald Trump's mass deportation plans as a “disaster.” Last week, the Biden administration announced that Cuba would release 553 political prisoners, and in return, the U.S. would remove Cuba's designation as a state sponsor of terrorism—a deal reportedly brokered by the Vatican. However, on his first day back in office, President Donald Trump reversed this decision reinstating Cuba's status as a state sponsor of terrorismon his first day back in office. This reversal has jeopardized the agreement and raised concerns among the families of the prisoners who were set to be released.   Please support this podcast by becoming a digital subscriber to America Media. Links for further reading Pope Francis assures Donald Trump of his prayers, but says mass deportations would be a ‘disgrace' Cuba to release 553 prisoners for Jubilee at Pope Francis' request Pope Francis falls, suffers bruise but no fractures Pope Francis dissolves Peru-based Catholic movement after abuses uncovered by Vatican Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

TRADCAST EXPRESS - Episode 202 Topics covered: Vatican City State enacts tougher penalties for illegal border crossings. Francis talks tough against superstition and occultism but doesn't practice what he preaches. The Catholic position on Christian unity before vs. after Vatican II. Links: "Vatican: Tougher Penalties for Illegal Immigrants", FSSPX.News (Jan. 15, 2025) Antipope Francis, General Audience, Vatican.va (Sep. 25, 2024) "For ‘Access to the Sacred Circle of Spirits': Francis participates in Native American Smudge Ceremony", Novus Ordo Wire (July 28, 2022) Video: Francis Allows 100 Buddhist Monks to Pray Over Him at Vatican (EWTN Footage) "Seeking Peace in all the Wrong Ways: Interreligious Hug Fest in Assisi", Novus Ordo Wire (Sep. 23, 2016) "'Pope' Francis' Favorite Exorcist is a Lutheran!", Novus Ordo Wire (May 24, 2013) Atila Sinke Guimaraes, "The Taoist Background of Jorge Bergoglio", Tradition in Action (Oct. 30, 2013) Antipope Francis, Homily at Ecumenical Vigil, Vatican.va (Oct. 11, 2024) Holy Office under Pope Pius XII, Instruction Ecclesia Catholica on the Ecumenical Movement (Dec. 20, 1949) Sign up to be notified of new episode releases automatically at tradcast.org. Produced by NOVUSORDOWATCH.org Support us by making a tax-deductible contribution at NovusOrdoWatch.org/donate/

FROM THE PAUL VI HALL IN THE VATICAN, POPE FRANCIS' AUDIENCE WITH EMPLOYEES OF VATICAN CITY STATE FOR THE EXCHANGE OF CHRISTMAS GREETINGS (The content of this podcast is copyrighted by the Dicastery for Communication which, according to its statute, is entrusted to manage and protect the sound recordings of the Roman Pontiff, ensuring that their pastoral character and intellectual property's rights are protected when used by third parties. The content of this podcast is made available only for personal and private use and cannot be exploited for commercial purposes, without prior written authorization by the Dicastery for Communication. For further information, please contact the International Relation Office at relazioni.internazionali@spc.va)

In this explosive interview with Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò and Dr. Taylor Marshall, the Archbishop discusses: In this explosive interview with Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò and Dr. Taylor Marshall, the Archbishop discusses: 0:00 Intro 2:00 Review of the 14 questions 12:11 Our Father prayer in Latin The 14 Questions 13:25 1. Is the 2000 published third secret of Fatima is the real one? 16:00 2. Should the Vatican Bank be abolished? 17:38 3. In my book Infiltration, I document your investigative work as secretary-general of the Governorate of Vatican City State from 2009 to 2011 under Pope Benedict XVI. What else did you find? For the sake of history, what exactly happened? 33:29 Pope Benedict's Butler leaking documents 34:40 the infamous "white box" 37:20 4. Cardinal Fernandez stated you received a latae sententiae excommunication for the crime of schism. Does the canonical penalty apply to you? Why or why not? 41:40 5. Who are the three most dangerous men in the Vatican right now? 47:30 6. What should lay Catholics do if the TLM is banned one day? 52:30 Closing Prayer: Ave Maria 53:45 How to be saved and become Catholic The remaining questions will be covered in Part 2 of this video, which can be found here:  • VIGANO + MARSHALL INTERVIEW part 2: V...   7. What are your thoughts on FSSP, ICK, and SSPX? Do you encourage people to attend their Masses?  8. What would you say to laymen without access to TLM? 9. What was McCarrick's role in the China-Vatican deal 10. As former nuncio, what was the status and health of the United States episcopate? 11. What do you think of the munus - ministerium argument that B16 didn't resign? 12. What should the next pope do? Should he declare Bergoglio and antipope? Invalidate v2? 13. Pope Saint Leo II declared his predecessor Pope Honorius anathema. Will this happen again? 14. If Bergoglio were an antipope, wouldn't his cardinals be anti cardinals and invalid? How would a conclave occur? To solve this problem have your read Guerard des Lauriers Cassiciacum Thesis. Do you agree with his “material papacy” argument? DR. TAYLOR MARSHALL PODCAST #catholic #catholicchurch 

Hello, and welcome to episode 110 of the Financial Crime Weekly Podcast, I'm Chris Kirkbride. This week's mass of financial crime news looks at action across the globe on sanctions, with the principal target being Russia and its overseas operations in Africa. The bribery and anti-corruption news comes from Nigeria where Glencore is centre stage, and an interesting story from Queensland, Australia. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in the US has raised a scan email warning. On money laundering news, more on Turkey's attempts to come off the FATF's ‘Grey List', and MONEYVAL has news on Bulgaria, the Vatican City, and San Marino. There is also the usual round-up of cyber-attack news, which includes aggressive action from the US on the 911 S5 Botnet. Let's crack on. As usual, I have linked the main stories flagged in the podcast in the description. These are: Council of Europe, Stricter regulation is needed to prevent corruption in top executive functions of central governments, says the Council of Europe's GRECO.Council of Europe, GRECO Annual Report.Council of the European Union, Russia: EU sets up new country-specific framework for restrictive measures against those responsible for human rights violations, and lists 20 persons.Council of the European Union, G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Communiqué, Stresa, 23-25 May 2024.Council of the European Union, Anti-money laundering: Council adopts package of rules.Eurojust, Major operation to take down dangerous malware systems.European Securities and Markets Authority, ESMA reminds on rules for sharing information during pre-close calls.Europol, Largest ever operation against botnets hits dropper malware ecosystem.General Court of the European Union, Farkhad Teimurovich Akhmedov v Council of the European Union.Europol, Crackdown on money mule service providers laundering over EUR 10 million.HM Treasury, Policy paper: Joint EU-UK Financial Regulatory Forum.Homeland Security Investigations, HSI Joins the Department of Treasury in Announcing Sanctions Against Wagner Group-linked Companies in the Central African Republic.MONEYVAL, MONEYVAL publishes follow-up reports on Bulgaria, the Holy See and San Marino.MONEYVAL, Bulgaria strengthened its preventive framework to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism, says Council of Europe body.MONEYVAL, The Holy See (including Vatican City State) improved Anti-Money Laundering and combating the financing of terrorism measures with respect to banking and legal persons.MONEYVAL, San Marino strengthened its sanctions for breaches of application of some of the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of terrorism measures.National Crim Agency, National Crime Agency part of international operation to destroy cyber crime services.National Cyber Security Centre, Raising the cyber resilience of software 'at scale'.Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Guidance: OFSI General licence INT/2024/4761108.Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, General Licence – Funds of non-designated third parties involving designated credit or financial institutions (“Personal Remittances”) INT/2024/4761108.Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Guidance: Russian Oil Services ban.Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, General licences - INT/2024/4423849, INT/2023/3074680, INT/2022/2470156 and INT/2022/2470056.Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, General Licence - Russian Banks – UK subsidiaries – Guernsey subsidiary – EU subsidiaries - Basic needs, routine holding and maintenance, the payment of legal fees and insolvency related payments: INT/2022/1280876.Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, General Licence – Oil Price Cap  INT/2024/4423849.Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Financial Sanctions Notice: Russia.Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Financial Sanctions Notice: Russia.Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Financial Sanctions Notice: Somalia.Office of Foreign Assets Control, Counter Terrorism and Iran-Related Designations Removals and Updates.Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Fictitious Regulatory Notifications: Fictitious Notification Regarding the Release of Funds Supposedly Under the Control of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.Queensland government, Independent review into the Crime and Corruption Commission's (CCC) reporting on the performance of its corruption functions.UK legislation, The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2024 SI No. 695.UK legislation, The Sanctions (EU Exit) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2024 SI No. 644.US Department of Justice, 911 S5 Botnet Dismantled and Its Administrator Arrested in Coordinated International Operation.US Department of State, Imposing Sanctions on Entities Supporting Russia's Malign Activities in Africa.US Department of the Treasury, G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' Communiqué.US Department of the Treasury, Treasury Sanctions a Cybercrime Network Associated with the 911 S5 Botnet.US Internal Revenue Service, Ukrainian national pleads guilty to money laundering charge stemming from attempt to export dual-use high precision jig grinder to Russia.White & Case, EU launches new sanctions framework targeting Russia regarding human rights violations.

Episode 121 Today we are joined by Dr. Chris Impey to talk about exoplanets, the search for life in space, and the search for meaning on Earth.   Dr Impey is a University Distinguished Professor of Astronomy at the University of Arizona. He has over 220 refereed publications on observational cosmology, galaxies, and quasars, and his research has been supported by $20 million in NASA and NSF grants. He has won eleven teaching awards and has taught two online classes with over 300,000 enrolled and 4 million minutes of video lectures watched. He is a past Vice President of the American Astronomical Society, won its Education Prize, has been an NSF Distinguished Teaching Scholar, Carnegie Council's Arizona Professor of the Year, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor. He has written 70 popular articles on cosmology, astrobiology and education, two textbooks, a novel called Shadow World, and eight popular science books: The Living Cosmos, How It Ends, Talking About Life, How It Began, Dreams of Other Worlds, Humble Before the Void, Beyond: The Future of Space Travel, and Einstein's Monsters: The Life and Times of Black Holes.    Support this podcast on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/DowntheWormholepodcast   More information at https://www.downthewormhole.com/   produced by Zack Jackson music by Zack Jackson and Barton Willis    Transcript (AI Generated) ian (01:16.703) Our guest today is a university distinguished professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona. He has over 220 refereed publications on observational cosmology, galaxies, and quasars, and his research has been supported by $20 million in NASA and NSF grants. He's won 11 teaching awards and has taught two online classes with over 300,000 enrolled and 4 million minutes of video lectures watched. He's a past vice president of the American Astronomical Society, has been an NSF Distinguished Teaching Scholar, Carnegie Council's Arizona Professor of the Year, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute professor. He has written 70 popular articles on cosmology, astrobiology, and education, two textbooks, a novel called Shadow World and eight popular science books. I'm very excited to welcome Dr. Chris Impey to the podcast today. chris_impey (02:07.898) Yeah, delighted to be with you. zack_jackson (02:09.75) Welcome. That's quite an introduction. Ha ha ha. Thanks for watching. I hope you enjoyed this video. I'll see you in the next one. Bye. ian (02:12.983) Yeah. Obviously, I shortened down what you sent us, and it was tough for me to do that, Chris, because you've done a lot. You know, obviously, I was at fellow academic. I understand the need to do peer-reviewed research and those types of things in our field, but I was really impressed with how much writing you've done for the general public, both articles and also your books. You've written a novel. You've been on several podcasts. Can you kind of tell us a little bit about your background, what is you do, and then how you also got into that part of your profession of making sure you communicate with the general public as well? chris_impey (02:53.298) Sure, you won't hear it in my voice, my accent, but I was born into Edinburgh, I'm a Scott. I had a little transatlantic childhood that sort of wiped out the Scottish borough, but if you feed me single malt whiskey it would come back. And of course, I'm sure you noticed if you've gone to Britain that you look up and there are not many stars visible there. So once I decided to do astronomy I knew I was going to leave, so I did my undergrad work in London. zack_jackson (03:04.15) Thank you. Bye. Ha ha ha! chris_impey (03:22.938) and never look back and I'm a dual citizen now. So astronomy is big in Arizona. I've not looked elsewhere. The grass is never greener anywhere else. We're building the biggest telescopes in the world and we have five observatories within an hour's drive. So this is the perfect place to do observational astronomy. So I'm very happy. But then as people's careers evolve, you know, the writing research papers is important. It's the sort of stocking trade of the academic. But it's also, you know, the texture of the average research article is that of a three-day old bologna sandwich. It's almost designed to be indigestible writing. The constraints of an academic discourse make that happen. So I was always interested in more popular writing, so I segued into textbooks. And then I realized the problem with them is that you've written a textbook and that's a nice challenge. But then the publisher just wants you to update it every year or so. It's like, okay, that's not so exciting. I think I'm not going to do this anymore. And then I think more broadly, apart from just liking education and being very committed to teaching and mentoring students, you know, I've just seen the, well, even before the sort of large waves of misinformation and the assault on facts in our culture, it's, I viewed it as an obligation of a professional scientist to communicate to a larger audience because, well, to be blunt, we're paid by the taxpayer. zack_jackson (04:26.05) Thank you. Bye. zack_jackson (04:44.15) Hmm. chris_impey (04:54.118) And also, there's a lot of misinformation out there, and science is often misperceived or characterized in wrong and inappropriate ways. And so I think all scientists should not just stay in their little lane doing research, but they should, if they can, some better than others. And not everyone can be Neil deGrasse Tyson. That's fine. But I think there's an obligation to communicate to larger audiences. And once I got into it and got practiced and better at it, then I now understand that I mean, it's like I couldn't imagine not doing it. chris_impey (05:32.018) And the books just, okay. And so books just flow out of that because writing popular articles is just a sort of lighter version of writing a technical article. And then, you know, you want a meaty subject. You do a book-length version. So I've been writing about cosmology and astrobiology. And I've started about 10 years ago I say, I think this is my ninth book, Exoplanets. So books are fun. They're more challenging. ian (05:32.543) I almost had to sneeze. Sorry, go ahead. Ha ha ha. chris_impey (06:01.958) to take on a big subject and distill it down and make it, you gotta make it, have a resonance for a person with no, maybe with no background in astronomy or maybe just a little background and you're taking them through what could be a very esoteric subject. So that, I like the challenge of that. Although the books are exhausting. Once I've done a book, I don't wanna, I almost don't wanna look at a book or read a book or write a book for a while. zack_jackson (06:28.65) do people ask you like when's the next one coming out? Like right after you finish. It's like having a baby. I'm not sure if you can tell, but I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. I'm not sure. chris_impey (06:31.898) Of course. Yeah, they are. Yeah, it's like I'm not going to go there about the having a baby because my wife would my wife would give me a hard time. There's nothing like having a baby. You can't even imagine, you know, and and and she and yeah, and she's right. But like having a baby, you know, women may feel that and then they do it again, you know, so I write the book, have have a slight, you know, trauma afterwards or just let down. It's a little bit of a let down sometimes. zack_jackson (06:43.89) That is a good man. Good job. ian (06:45.766) Yes. chris_impey (07:01.918) you finished any big-ish thing. But I do like writing, so I'm committed to it. zack_jackson (07:02.094) Hmm. ian (07:09.303) Yeah. zack_jackson (07:10.05) So you're writing and thinking and studying a lot about exoplanets these days. So you're writing and thinking and studying a lot about exoplanets these days. So you're writing and thinking and studying a lot about exoplanets these days. So you're writing and thinking and studying a lot about exoplanets these days. So you're writing and thinking and studying a lot about exoplanets these days. So you're writing and thinking and studying a lot about exoplanets these days. So you're writing and thinking and studying a lot about exoplanets these days. So you're writing and thinking and studying a lot chris_impey (07:15.718) Yeah, it's a super hot field with the number has up to 5,300 last time I checked on NASA's website. And remember, you know, 1995, the number was zero. So this is all, this is all the last few decades and it's just growing gangbusters. And now it's a slightly unfortunate because I have, we have students here who are working on exoplanets or astrobiology. And, you know, there was a time when if you discovered one cool Earth-like planet or water world, ian (07:27.244) I remember that. chris_impey (07:45.818) about it. Well now you know you'd have to find a hundred interesting things to write a paper. So the bar has been raised just by the success of the field. But the interesting thing is that it's moving to a new phase. So the most of what's known about those 5300 exoplanets is not much at all. They're basically is either a mass or a size or maybe both and you get a density and know it's a gas planet or a rocky planet. And that's it. We can't characterize zack_jackson (07:46.792) Hmm. zack_jackson (07:54.15) Yeah. zack_jackson (08:04.316) Hmm. chris_impey (08:15.698) thousands of exoplanets. So the next stage of the game, everyone's taking a deep breath in the research field is to try and characterize the atmospheres and the geology and of course find life. And that's just a very hard experiment. It's just much harder than detecting an exoplanet in the first place. So there's sort of excitement in the air because if I were betting, I would say that within five to seven years, we will have done the experiment of looking for life or Earth planets that are nearest to us and will either know the answer. Either there will be microbes on those planets that have altered their atmospheres or there won't be and that will be an amazing experiment to have done. So it's really on the horizon. But it's daunting because it's a very difficult experiment. Earth-like planets are a billion times fainter than the stars they orbit. So you have to, and they're far away so they appear very close to their star. So you have to isolate the planet from the star, blot out the billion times brighter and then smear the feeble reflected light from the exoplanet into a spectrum and look for molecules that indicate life like oxygen, ozone, methane, water vapor and so on. ian (09:26.503) But the molecules you're looking for are always in the atmosphere itself, right? Like you wouldn't, and I understand that, and I think we all do, but, you know, some people listening may not realize that that's, that's what you're looking at. When you're talking about with the spectrum is that makeup of the atmosphere, nothing about like if there's, if it's a rocky planet, what's on the ground, I guess. zack_jackson (09:26.614) Now. chris_impey (09:30.458) there. chris_impey (09:45.358) Right, right. And it's important for people to realize that the characterizing the exoplanets is done in that indirect way. For instance, of those 5,300, only 150 have ever had an image made of them. You know, seeing is believing. It's nice to have images of exoplanets. That's a hard thing. And those images are, you know, they're pathetic, a few pixels. They're just pale blue dots in a far away. So there's no, and if you ask this, ian (10:02.488) Right. zack_jackson (10:03.35) Thank you. Thank you. chris_impey (10:15.678) The question of when will we be able to make an image of an exoplanet to be able to see continents and oceans? The answer is maybe never. The answer is decades or a very long time because it's just too hard to make images that sharp of things that far away, even with space telescopes. So astronomers have to be a little more indirect and the clever method that's on the table now and will be done, James Webb is doing some of this but was never built to do this experiment, it will actually be better done with the huge... set of ground-based telescopes under construction. So the experiment is you use the star to backlight the exoplanet when it crosses in front of it, and the backlit, the light from the star filters through the atmosphere of the exoplanet and imprints absorption from these relevant molecules called biosignatures. So that's the experiment you're doing. And it's still hard. And it's also not clear you'll get an unambiguous answer. You know, obviously, and its cousin ozone are the prime biomarkers because on Earth, the oxygen we breathe, one part and five of our air, was put there by microbes billions of years ago. So the reverse logic is if you see oxygen on an exoplanet or in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, it must have been put there by life because oxygen is so reactive, so volatile that it disappears. If there's not life to sustain it, say the biosphere of the Earth shut down overnight, the entire biosphere just shut down. ian (11:41.803) Thank you. Thank you. chris_impey (11:45.458) just imagine the thought experiment. Within five to seven billion, a million years, so very short time in geological terms, the oxygen, that one part in five we breathe, would be gone. It would rust things, it would dissolve in seawater, it would oxidize with rocks, and it would be gone. So if it were not put there originally by life and then sustained by photosynthesis and other life processes, it would disappear. So the logic, therefore, is if you see it elsewhere, bang, it's got to be microbes putting it there and causing it to be there. ian (12:16.845) Yeah. zack_jackson (12:16.95) Hmm, unless there's some hitherto unknown non-living process by which these things happen. chris_impey (12:24.058) Right. So that's a good point. And there is a debate there because the data that's going to come in, well, first of all, it'll be noisy. It won't be beautiful, perfect spectra. So they'll be ambiguous to interpret. And then when you see it, what is the, where's, does the bar set for being enough? And the geologists have weighed in on this. And so whereas the sort of simplistic view as well, if you see any significant level of oxygen, certainly 18% like on the earth, what's got to be biology. zack_jackson (12:41.694) Yeah. chris_impey (12:54.218) That's pretty much true, but geologists have figured out ways where without biology, just with geochemical reactions, if you conjure up a geochemistry, you can get 6%, 5%, 7% oxygen. That's quite a lot, more than most people would have expected. So the geologists are saying, well, hold on. Yes, a lot of oxygen is probably a biomarker, but you would have to know more about the planet to be sure that it didn't have some weird chemistry and geology going on. for any of the other biomarkers. Methane is a biomarker too because it's produced on earth, you know, mostly by life, a good fraction of that, cow farts I think. But so it's the same argument. So these wonderful and difficult to obtain spectra are going to be, everyone's going to jump all over them and hope they give an unambiguous answer, but they might not. Science is not always as cut and dried as that at the frontier, which is where we are. But it's the zack_jackson (13:34.511) Hmm. Sure. chris_impey (13:53.958) exciting experiment and it will be done fairly soon. ian (13:58.804) Okay. chris_impey (14:01.358) And then a sort of related issue is that it's not just microbes. I mean, that's just looking for life as we know it on the earth. You could also look with the same technique, and this is an interesting possibility, for what are called techno signatures. So biosignatures is just evidence of life, typically microbes, because we think most life in the universe is going to be microbial, even if it's not exactly like our form of biology. But you could also look for things technology like chlorofluorocarbons, which you know, were responsible for almost killing the ozone layer for a few decades until we sort of ruled them out of refrigeration units. And there are other chemicals that are produced by industrial activity in a civilization, which would normally be very trace ingredients in an atmosphere, barely, you know, not present at all really. And if you could detect them in an atmosphere, it would be indirect evidence of a technological or industrial civilization. Realization on that planet and that will be very exciting. So that's the same method being used to ask a very different question But it's a more challenging experiment because these are trace ingredients. I'll give you an example I mean, we're all aware of climate change global warming and we've seen the carbon dioxide content of our atmosphere Increased by 30% roughly in the last few decades. That's quite a lot. It's obviously concerning and we know the implications But if you step back and look at the earth from afar and say, well, shouldn't that just be obvious? Shouldn't some other alien civilization look at the Earth and say, oh, those people are really screwing up. They're killing their atmosphere with climate change and fossil fuel burning? The answer is probably not because carbon dioxide is a trace ingredient of our atmosphere, and 30% increase on a trace ingredient would actually be very hard to detect from a distance. So even that dramatic thing that we are all anxious about on our planet industrial activity and fossil fuels is not dramatically obvious from a distance. So these are quite difficult experiments. The techno-signature experiment is much harder than the biosignature experiment. zack_jackson (16:13.592) Hmm. ian (16:14.165) Interesting. rachael (16:17.101) One of the things that you had said when looking at these exoplanets was, you know, we look at them and we want to see them and what's going on with them. And then you added the line, and of course, detect life. And that's where our conversation has gone for the last couple of minutes. But I'm wondering, you added that phrase that seems to think that finding life is part, entire reason for studying exoplanets. And I'm wondering, A, why you think that? And B, what that says about, you know, making it very narcissistic and Earth-centered, what that says about us. chris_impey (16:54.799) Mm-hmm. chris_impey (17:02.778) Right. Okay. So good question. I can unpack that in parts. I mean, yes, if I were a geologist or a planetary scientist, I'd be just pleased as punch and happy as a pig in a poke to just study exoplanets. That's all that I'm happy. I've got 5300 new, new geological worlds to study. Whereas the solar system only has a handful. Oh, yeah. So depending on your discipline, you might be totally zack_jackson (17:16.049) Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe rachael (17:19.507) Right! chris_impey (17:32.718) properties. But astrobiology, I mean astrobiology writ large is the study of life in the universe, and the context for that search for life in the universe is the fact that we only know of one example of life, and that's on this planet. And everything in astronomy and the history of astronomy, and the Copernicus onwards, has told us we're not special, has told us there's nothing singular zack_jackson (17:59.891) Thank you. Bye. chris_impey (18:02.718) about our solar system, about our galaxy, or our position in the galaxy, and so on. In space and time, we are not special. And so, you know, for biology to be unique to this planet, when the ingredients are widespread, we've detected carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, the biogenic elements out to distances of 12, 13 billion light years, almost to the birth of the universe. Water is one of the, you might think it's special. Earth is a water world. Well, actually, some of the exoplanets have 10 to 30 times more water. water than the Earth. So it's not, the Earth isn't really a water world even, pale blue dot, it's not that special. And water is one of the most abundant molecules in the universe too. So all the ingredients, the table is set for life in the universe. And as the universe is evolved and is quite old, more and more of those biogenic elements are made by stars and spat out into space to become part of new star systems and planets. And so in an old mature universe with a lot of heavy elements, and with many habitable locations now, we the best guess is 20 billion Earth-like habitable worlds just in our galaxy, then it just, whether or not it's central to astrobiology, it absolutely begs the question, is biology unique to this planet? Because it really shouldn't be statistically. However, logically, you know, to be correct and scientific, it's possible that there were a unique set of accidents and flukes that led to life on Earth, and it is unique. It would still chris_impey (19:33.038) It's historical science to wonder how life on earth developed and nobody's ever built a cell from scratch in the lab people have done various parts of that experiment and They can't connect all the dots, but they've done some very interesting experiments that certainly suggest It's not a fluke that the whole thing happened. You need time. You need the possibilities of Chemicals bumping into each other and getting more complex, but that tends to happen It happens if you do it in a computer it in a lab as well as you can. And so the context of the ingredients for life being so widespread and there not seeming to be any sort of bizarre, flukish occurrence in the development of at least replicating molecules that could store information, if not a full cell, would certainly lead you to anticipate life elsewhere. And then game on, because the big question then is, so there are two almost binary questions you're trying to answer, which is why the field is so exciting. Is there life beyond Earth, yes or no? And then if yes, is it like our life? Is it biology? Because everything on Earth, from a fungal spore to a butterfly to a blue whale, is the same biological experiment. They seem like very diverse things, but that's one genetic code. experiment that led to that diversity after a long time, after four billion years of evolution. And there's no reason to expect, even if the ingredients for life and the basis for biology exist far beyond Earth and in many locations, there's no real reason to expect that it would play out the same way elsewhere. And so that second question, is it like Earth life, is a very big question. rachael (21:27.201) Just as a curiosity, when did, if you know, when did microbes appear on Earth? chris_impey (21:39.158) So the earliest, the indications of life on Earth, the history of that is really tricky, because as you know, the Earth is a restless planet, and we weren't there, it's historical science, and it's possible you may never answer the question, but the big problem is the restless Earth. It's very hard, there's only a handful of places on Earth, Western Australia, Greenland, somewhere in South Africa, where you can find four billion year old rocks. They just don't exist. I mean, everything's been churned by geology and eroded rachael (21:46.661) We weren't there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. rachael (21:56.104) Right. chris_impey (22:09.338) Weathered and so on so just even and that's about when we think life started So you're dealing with you know a crime scene where the evidence has been trampled many times and the crowds have just Obliterated the evidence so that's a hard thing and then the second hard thing is that the incipient Traces of life as you get to cells are very indirect They're sort of just you they're biochemical tracers or sorry there. They're chemical imbalances isotopic imbalances of versus normal carbon and so on. Because you're not looking for fully fossilized cells. So if you're just looking at what would be called chemical tracers of life, they're pretty good, but argumentative, this field is not resolved, traces that go back about 3.8 billion years. If you're asking when do you have the first fossil life forms, fossilized microbes, single cells, rachael (23:00.421) Okay. chris_impey (23:09.238) to 3.4, 3.5 billion years, and that's people then stop arguing about it. I think they believe that evidence. And then there's this enormous long time between that and multi-celled organisms. That step in the evolution of life seems to have taken a long time. You could infer that that means it's difficult or doesn't happen very often, but that's a dangerous inference from data of one. All the inferences, hazardous. So astrobiologists have to keep pinching themselves and saying, it's a sample of one. It's a sample of one. rachael (23:30.921) Thank you. Thank you. zack_jackson (23:32.75) Thank you. Bye. rachael (23:39.721) One does not make a line. One day to... That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. That's right. chris_impey (23:41.139) Don't draw too many conclusions. So, yeah, the cell formation, the evolution of the first cells and microbes seem to have taken 300 or 400 million years from the first chemical traces of life. But those chemical traces, we don't know. There's that Zircon that was found in Western Australia, 4.404 billion years accurately measured by radioactive dating. chris_impey (24:09.378) environment and so there's evidence really soon after the earth formed when it was just a hellhole of a place you know impacts and craters and geological activity that the earth surface was almost tacky like magma and yet there were there were any ingredients for life there so nobody would rule out life going back very close to the formation of the earth but then but tracing all these evolutionary paths is really hard I mean we have stromatolites which are modern descendants of the first microbial colonies. You can go to Western Australia, Shark's Bay, I've been there and it's great, they're stromatolites. These were just the same as they were now three billion years ago, it's really cool. One of the things you can't see behind me is my stromatolite collection. rachael (24:53.985) Yeah. rachael (24:59.962) One of the reasons, yeah, that's fascinating. It makes a collector about that. It makes a collector. Um. Yeah. zack_jackson (25:00.071) kind of a few collections chris_impey (25:01.578) Yeah. Oh, well, three. Does that make a collection? ian (25:05.749) It's good enough. chris_impey (25:07.958) Well, yes. It's like primitive counting systems, one, two, many. So I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. I have many. rachael (25:13.941) That's right. zack_jackson (25:15.016) Ha! rachael (25:19.021) One of the reasons I was asking that question about Earth, because you were talking about these very far away planets and looking for microbial, likely microbial life, then showing up in the atmosphere by its various products. And so my question was stemming from how far back are these planets that we're looking at? a really long time to create its microbes, then perhaps, since we're looking so far back in time, that maybe those microbes exist now, but when we're looking at them, they didn't exist. Right, that lovely time, space question. chris_impey (25:51.579) Mm-hmm. chris_impey (26:02.098) Right. So in that context, it's important to say that the exoplanets we're finding are in our backyard. So Kepler, NASA's Kepler mission is really responsible for almost half the exoplanets, even though it stopped operating a few years ago. And so the most exoplanets we know of are within 100 to 1,000 light years. And that's our backyard. The Milky Way is 100,000 light years across. rachael (26:12.785) Okay. rachael (26:28.064) Oh, close. Yeah. chris_impey (26:32.398) And of course, logically, therefore, we're only seeing them as they were a century or millennium ago, which is no time geologically. So we can't see that far back. So we're not really looking at ancient history. However, the more important point, having mentioned that carbon nitrogen, oxygen, and water have been around in the universe for a long time, is that we now can very confidently say, even if we can't locate such objects, that an earth clone, rachael (26:32.606) Okay. rachael (26:38.901) Yeah, it's no time at all. Yeah. chris_impey (27:02.098) something as close to Earth as you could imagine, could have been created within a billion years of the Big Bang. And that's seven billion years before the Earth formed. So there are potential biological experiments out there that have a seven billion year head start on us and then add the four billion four and a half billion years of evolution. And that's boggling because you know, we can't imagine what evolution and biology might come up with given 10 or 12 billion years to evolve rather zack_jackson (27:11.75) Hmm. chris_impey (27:31.958) Maybe it makes no difference at all. Maybe these things are slow and they're hard and the Earth was actually one of the fastest kids on the block rather than one of the slowest kids on the block. We don't know. Sample of one again. We'll just put that as a big asterisk over almost everything I say so I don't have to keep saying sample of one. Okay. zack_jackson (27:32.014) Hmm. rachael (27:41.861) Simple of one. zack_jackson (27:42.808) Yeah. zack_jackson (27:48.834) No. rachael (27:49.221) That'll just be today's episode title, right? Today's sample of one. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. chris_impey (27:51.14) Yeah, right. zack_jackson (27:52.65) That's Apple F1. chris_impey (27:55.038) Yeah, induction is a bitch when you can't do it. zack_jackson (27:55.492) So. zack_jackson (28:02.51) So we've talked a lot about the how it's possible, how we might detect it, but what do you think it might do to our sense of self and our sense of spirituality, our sense of humanity, our sense of earth? Should we start discovering life outside of, or at least biological markers in other places? chris_impey (28:28.898) Right. I mean, I think it sort of bifurcates if we find microbial life elsewhere and improve it, you know, it's beyond a reasonable doubt. And even if we don't know if it's our biology or not, it's just a biomarker that's irrefutable or set of biomarkers. That will be a transformative, epochal event in the history of science. It'll be dramatic. But it will make front page headlines and then fade, I would say, fairly rapidly, because it's microbes. zack_jackson (28:44.618) Mm-hmm. chris_impey (28:58.858) Like, that's Ponskum or stuff on your shower curtain, like, okay, who cares? So, I mean being facetious, but not too facetious, because I think the public will just be interested and science interested people will be very interested, and books will be written, and documentaries will be made, and so on. But in the public consciousness, I don't think it will permeate very far or persist very long. Of course, the counterpoint of if we decide we found intelligent life in the universe through those techno markers. zack_jackson (29:03.391) Ha ha ha. chris_impey (29:28.978) you know, the search for artificial radio or optical signals from some civilization. So they're obviously artificial and they couldn't have been produced by nature. That will be more profound, of course, because that's companionship in the universe. And that will raise all sorts of questions. So I think it really divides that way. And since the universe logically, if life exists in the universe elsewhere, there'll be many more microbes than intelligent civilizations. You know. ian (29:29.523) Mm-hmm. chris_impey (29:58.858) seed in that first mode. Although SETI is a side bet. I mean SETI for 65 years has been placing this little side bet. Okay, yeah, we can look for microbes and those are hard experiments and now we can almost do it. But let's always place this side bet of jumping over the evolutionary path from microbes to men or humans and look for those intelligent technological civilizations directly. And so it's worth doing. I'm not science scientists are divided on SETI, even astronomers are divided on it, whether it's a worthwhile pursuit or not, whether it's even scientific or not. That's the strongest critique of SETI is that unlike, you know, if I wanted to go to the National Science Foundation and get a million dollar grant to study some issue of, you know, solid state physics or high energy physics, I'd have to propose an experiment and define my parameters and how I was going to control variables and say how I would interpret the data. could refute or confirm. SETI doesn't have that kind of situation. They don't know how to define success or failure even. Well, they can define success more or less, but they can't define failure and they can't say what the probability of success is. So it's not a normal scientific pursuit. So that's the critique of SETI from scientists, but I still think it's worth doing. ian (31:04.946) Right. ian (31:23.628) Yeah. rachael (31:24.842) You talked about, and I think you're probably right in terms of how much people will care in the long run or in their day-to-day life or, right? Okay, so we found some microbes from, you know, a thousand light years away. I don't, that didn't reduce my student loan at all. But like, didn't, thank you. It's nice, saw the headlines. It's now three years later. chris_impey (31:45.018) Right. rachael (31:54.441) But I've noticed that you did a lot of work with the Vatican and with monks, and I think that that's a different population that might respond to and other religious figures, but specifically those I'm asking you because those are the groups that you've worked with. They might respond a little bit differently to this existence. Could you speak a little bit ian (32:01.35) Yeah chris_impey (32:16.803) Right. rachael (32:23.726) in this idea of how it would change. chris_impey (32:25.658) Sure. And maybe preface it with just the cultural comment, with independent religion, that the other issue that will arise with, I mean, if microbial life is found elsewhere and astrobiology is a real field with the subject matter, finally, yeah, it's foundational for science. And of course, it terraforms biology because, you know, if you want to poke, if physicists want to poke at biologists who say, well, you just spent your whole life studying one form of biology, What about all the other forms? You don't have a general theory of biology like we have a standard model of particle physics because you've just been studying one thing like staring at your navel. Well, what about all that stuff out there? Okay, so so it'll be a big deal for biology for all of science but on the intelligent life or advanced life, the problem with what happens outside the scientific community is it's not a tabula rasa. It's not a blank slate. The popular culture, especially in the US ian (32:59.524) Hmm. ian (33:08.503) Thank you. Bye. chris_impey (33:25.718) but almost everywhere now, is so primed for the fact that, A, it's already there and sure, and B, it's visited, and three, it's abducted some of our people, and four, it can make a list of all the conspiracy theories and wild ideas about alien life. And they're just so embedded in the popular culture that it's like that the fact of the existence of intelligent aliens has been amortized. It's sort of been, it's just already been built in. zack_jackson (33:39.8) Thank you. chris_impey (33:55.698) in to the culture. And so, you know, that would lead to a collective shrug. Well, sure, we knew that, you know, the government's been hiding this stuff from us for 70 years, since Roswell. So, you know, and now your astronomers are coming along and telling us, oh, it exists and you're all excited, really? Oh, come on, you know. So I think that's the larger cultural issue or problem or whatever, it's not a problem, it's just amusing to me. But as far as a religious reaction to this, and I'll say, zack_jackson (34:02.271) Hmm. rachael (34:04.421) Thank you. Bye. zack_jackson (34:05.05) Thank you. Bye. zack_jackson (34:12.722) Ha! chris_impey (34:25.698) the gate that I'm an agnostic, which my wife's a pretty hardcore atheist. And so she gives me a hard time about being agnostic. She thinks that's a kind of, it's a kind of wussy position to take. But I, and I argue with her, we argue vigorously about that one. I argue with her and I use the phrase that was attributed to Feynman. And I think he did say this in the biography of Richard Feynman, famous physicist. His biographer said, zack_jackson (34:43.45) Fantastic. chris_impey (34:55.738) Feynman believed in the primacy of doubt and that he held as a high scientific mark and doubt skepticism and doubt is a is a very high mark of a scientist. So I'm proud to wear that mantle of skepticism doubt of not being sure and being okay with not being sure. So I'm an agnostic but I do keep bad company and some of that bad company is Jesuits. Don't you know, don't don't go drinking with Jesuits. You'll you'll you'll end up in a rachael (34:59.461) Thank you. Bye. ian (35:13.024) Right. zack_jackson (35:14.092) Yeah. chris_impey (35:25.798) and a Rome gutter somewhere and they'll be they'll have got back home safely. With the Buddhists, the other group I hang out with, you don't have to worry about being drunk in a gutter because they really don't drink. They do bend the rules a bit, you know, I've seen them eat a lot of meat for people who are supposed to be vegans and vegetarians. But anyway, those are the two tribes that I've sort of affiliated myself with. And their reactions or perspectives on life in the universe is are quite different. They're interesting. Each the Buddhists that I've been with and I've read behind this of course and read some of their More you know the scholarly articles written about this It is completely unexceptional in their tradition to contemplate a universe filled with life That could be more advanced It could be human like or it could be more advanced or different from humans in also a vast universe with cycles of time and birth and and death of the universe and rebirth of other universes. So the Byzantine possibilities of life in the universe are pretty standard stuff for them and would not surprise them at all. They do get into more tricky issues when they come to define life itself, which biologists of course have trouble with, or sentience, which is also a tricky issue. But on the larger issue of the existence of life in the universe far beyond Earth, that's just non-controversial. zack_jackson (36:48.35) Hmm. chris_impey (36:55.898) to them and when I say that's what we anticipate and that's what scientists expect it's like okay sure and the Jesuits are in a different slightly different space they're of course in an unusual space as we know within the Catholic Church because they're you know they're the scholarly branch you know they're they're devoted to scholarship they from Gregory and the calendar reform they were liberated to measure ian (37:17.944) Mm-hmm. chris_impey (37:25.678) the heavens and then eventually that just segwayed smoothly into doing astronomy research. The Jesuits have been doing pretty straight up astronomical research since certainly the early 19th century, so quite a long time. And they have that sort of intellectual independence of being able to pursue those ideas. All the Jesuit astronomers I know, there are I think 11 or 12 in the Vatican Observatory and they all live the double life. They're all PhD astronomers. rachael (37:37.221) Thank you. chris_impey (37:55.798) with parishes. So it's not a problem. Whoever else, whoever elsewhere might think there's a conflict between science and religion, they don't see it. They don't feel it. And if you ask... Yeah. Yeah. ian (38:05.145) Mm-hmm. zack_jackson (38:06.03) No. And if anyone out there wants to hear more about that, they can listen to episode episode 113 with brother guy, the, uh, the director. Yeah. ian (38:10.246) We have an episode. chris_impey (38:13.821) Right. ian (38:15.343) Director of the Vatican Observatory. chris_impey (38:16.418) Sure, sure. So I've known guys since, well, since he was a grad student actually, and a long time. And yes, and so they, they're pursuing it from a scholarly direction. And for them, it's also uncontroversial that there would be life elsewhere. Now, what is the, you know, what does that do to God's creation when you imagine that Earth and humans are no longer the centerpiece of it? That's a more interesting question. zack_jackson (38:22.034) Wow. chris_impey (38:46.298) I've had debates about that. And I heard Jose Funes, who was the previous director of the Vatican Observatory and Argentinian astronomer, in a press conference actually in the Vatican City State when we had a conference on astrobiology. In response to a question about astrobiology, because that was what the conference was about, he gave a very interesting answer. He said he gave a parable of Christ in the flock of sheep and how there was the sheep that was lost. you know, you had to gather back to the rest of the flock. And he didn't complete the story, he just left it hanging there. And so you were left wondering, are we the lost sheep, you know, and the other, and all the intelligent aliens out there are the rest of the flock? And what's the message, you know? So he sort of almost muddied the waters with his little parable. But in the manner of how they view the universe, zack_jackson (39:27.914) Hmm. rachael (39:28.621) Thank you. Bye. zack_jackson (39:33.792) Hmm. chris_impey (39:46.398) the rules of physics. I used to teach a team graduate cosmology with Bill Staker, who is one of their tribe. Sadly, he died a few years ago. We teach cosmology and he's a relativist. He works on general relativity and the Big Bang and all that. And if I was just wanting to pull his leg at breakfast, we had breakfast before we taught us to organize ourselves. I could do one of two things. I could say, oh, Bill, physics, we got you with physics. is squeezed back to the first 10 to the minus 43 seconds. Got to the gaps, there it is, that's a little gap. And then physics owns the rest, you know. And then if I was really feeling frisky, I'd sort of, since he was a Catholic, I'd tease him about the three impossible things he has to believe every morning before breakfast. Virgin birth, resurrection, et cetera, you know. So I don't know how all those circles are squared truly because we've had, you know, I've had conversations. zack_jackson (40:22.572) Hmm. zack_jackson (40:26.32) Hehehehehe zack_jackson (40:35.05) Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. chris_impey (40:46.798) But I know that it's not a conflict or a tension or even a problem to imagine life in the universe and even intelligent life. So for neither of those two very different religious tribes, does it seem to be an issue? ian (41:06.443) So can you talk more about, especially how you got involved? Cause I think that science for the monks and nuns program was really interesting. And, you know, one, how you got involved, but you know, reading your book Humble Before the Void was just very interesting to kind of see about your experience from there. And you told us before we started recording that you wrote that after your first time going and that you've been there eight or nine times now. What has all of this been like for you? How has it had an impact on your work and also your personal life? if yes and what ways. chris_impey (41:38.798) Yeah, it was a sort of profound, it's been a profound experience since 2008, I guess, so it's almost 15 years and eight trips. So the first time was one of those great things of you come across the transom professionally. Sometimes I got a call from a colleague that I didn't know that well, who he knew I had an education, a good reputation as an educator. And he just called me, he's a postdoc at Berkeley actually, an environmental science postdoc. He said, how'd you like to go and teach the Dalai Lama's monks cosmology? And it's not a question you ruminate over or look at your skit, look at, oh, I'll check my calendar. Let me get back to you. No, you just say yes, and then you make it happen. So I said yes, and then it happened. And I was savvy enough in hindsight to take my 17-year-old Paul with me on that trip. And he'd never been anywhere out, he'd been to Europe a couple of times, but he'd never been to Asia or anywhere exotic. zack_jackson (42:14.65) Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha rachael (42:17.821) Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha zack_jackson (42:23.05) Thank you. Bye. chris_impey (42:38.738) if you like. And so that was a profound trip in that sense. It was a bonding with your 17-year-old and you know, we were a little more adventurous together than either of us might have been on our own. And so the context was that invitation. And then I learned that his holiness the Dalai Lama, who famously has said in his autobiography that if he hadn't been selected at age four to be the of compassion would have been an engineer. Fine, that's an interesting statement to make. But, and it meant that when he was a child in Eastern Tibet, in a pretty primitive village, you know, he would just infuriate his parents by taking apart their clocks and mechanical devices and never quite putting them together again. So he had this analytic and mechanical and engineering and scientific mindset even as a child. And then of course his future was cast into the role he had zack_jackson (43:11.134) Hmm. zack_jackson (43:25.992) Hmm. chris_impey (43:38.798) he took. But he's always had that strong interest in science. So he looked around 20 or so years ago and realized that the monastic tradition, his, the Gelug tradition, of course, or other traditions in Buddhism, was sort of outdated. You know, the monastic training was extremely rigorous. They take years and years of rhetoric and philosophy and theology and comparative religion and all sorts of things. But there's very little science, very little math. And in the schools, there's zack_jackson (43:39.972) Bye. chris_impey (44:08.718) very little science and very little math. And he just thought that was unacceptable. He said, my monks and nuns, the nun part actually did come later. And that was a good part of his work to make the level of playing field for monastic training to include nuns. But he just said, these my monastics cannot be prepared for life in the 21st century if they don't have science and math. And so in the manner that he does these things, he just looked around and waved his arm and said, make this happen, you know, and I've now zack_jackson (44:19.05) Thank you. Thank you. zack_jackson (44:30.035) Yeah. zack_jackson (44:37.45) Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe chris_impey (44:38.798) heard from proximity to people in his orbit that his holiness, the Dalai Lama says a lot of things. He has great ideas. He's very activist. He's very visionary. And he says all sorts of things. And people scurry around and sometimes they just ignore him. Sometimes nothing happens. But this one, they decided to make it happen. And what happened was they looked around Dharamsala chris_impey (45:08.658) the blue, who was an educator and a scientist, a young scientist. And they just glommed on to him and they said, Hey, can you help us with this? Can you set something up? And so he set up the science for monks program, then science for monks and nuns. When the nuns came on board and I was one of the early people he called. And so the model was to bring three to four Western teachers in different subjects. The Dalai Lama's core interest. it doesn't mirror a bit his interests, which are evolutionary biology, neuroscience, physics, math, and then environmental sciences come on board too. So it's not every field of science. So these, we would come out as Western teachers and there'd be cohorts of monks and then monks and nuns, about 24 in a group. And we do three week intensive workshops and they're very intense, you know, we're in the classroom six, seven hours a day and then our evening sessions or observing zack_jackson (45:50.671) Hmm. chris_impey (46:08.658) telescopes. So it's kind of grueling actually, but it's inspiring as well. And eventually, the idea is that enough of the monks and nuns will be trained to be educators themselves, and you won't need to depend on Westerners to come out and do this. And they're not really there yet, but they could get there. I don't want them to get there, because then I won't get invited out. So it was a singular experience. And the book I wrote, of course, was fresh, zack_jackson (46:24.494) Hmm. chris_impey (46:38.738) I was really, I wrote it not long after the first trip. And to your question of did it affect me or change me? Well, yes, in many ways, some of which I probably haven't fully appreciated. I mean, first of all, it was a deep embedding in a culture, in a way that I'd never done. I was pretty experienced world traveler, but in that sort of slightly superficial way of someone who goes to Asia and tries to hang out and go to a bar in a local restaurant and see the sights, but you don't really get to know the people ian (47:05.228) Mm-hmm chris_impey (47:08.838) you're moving around. So being three weeks, sometimes four weeks, and then traveling with them afterwards or during, you know, really you get to learn the culture. You also see in these northern Indian towns, most of the workshops are in northern India, there's now in southern India, Bidtabhatta, Nepal for this too. They're mixing very well. India has a, you know, kind of black mark on it right now with its current government of sort of sectarian strife and Most recently with the Sikhs, but also obviously with Muslims But in those little northern Indian villages where there are sometimes 50 percent Buddhist 50 percent Hindus They really get on pretty well. I mean that they're just they're sort of under the radar the geopolitics or the What the Modi government is doing at the time so? It works pretty well, and it's nice to see that So I learned that I saw the culture up close. I would be part of their rituals and go, you know and ian (47:50.666) Mm-hmm. chris_impey (48:08.758) see everything they saw and listen to their prayers and talk to their scholars. And so it was a pretty deep embedding. And then as far as my own life, when I come back, rather than just view it as, you know, amazing experience, I got some beautiful photos. I had these great memories. Um, it did sort of make me reflect a little, uh, because of their, the ethos they had. And their ethos is, is of course very, um, very different from most of a Western ethos. It's a Buddhist are all about compassion and suffering, suffering and compassion. They do go together. They're almost bedfellows. So I got the message, I think very early on, when I was walking towards the lecture hall and it was at one of these Tibetan children villages and they're very poignant places. They're about 11 or maybe now 14 Tibetan children villages in the northern part of India. And that's where the refugees go. ian (48:46.008) Mm-hmm. chris_impey (49:09.158) that escaped. So almost all the monks in my early workshops left Tibet when they were teenagers even younger, brought across the ice fields by family members at great risk. Some didn't make it, others lost toes and fingers from frostbite. They had to go in the winter because the Chinese troops would intercept them and even even then did in the winter. So they were orphans, And they grow up and go to these Tibetan children villages, sort of orphanages, really. And so I was walking towards the lecture hall, which is situated in one of these villages. And there was a hard, scrabble, packed dirt soccer pitch. You know, it looked really uncomfortable for falling. I am enough of a Brit to have experienced playing football soccer on really nice grass, because England does have good grass, you know. And I was thinking, the first thing I thought, damn, I don't want to play football. rachael (50:04.321) Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ian (50:04.525) Right. zack_jackson (50:05.412) Hmm chris_impey (50:08.918) on that field. That would be brutal. So there was this football field and there was a 10-foot wall behind it running the length of the football field, painted white, and on top of it in 10-foot high letters was a slogan of the school, others before self. And I was just thinking, I wonder how many American high schools would have that as their slogan. How would that go down with the, you know, social media, me generation, whatever. rachael (50:10.621) Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ian (50:31.167) Right. rachael (50:31.321) Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha zack_jackson (50:32.25) Hmm ian (50:34.845) Yeah. chris_impey (50:38.918) So that was one thing. And then a series of those little messages sort of sink in about how they do operate differently from us or me. And so one thing it made me reflect on when I went back home was I immediately embedded back in my academic life and hustling the next grant and writing the next paper and talking to my collaborators. And I just realized how really how intensely pressured. rachael (50:40.763) Wow. chris_impey (51:08.658) Darwinian that science, Western science system is, it's kind of, you know, it kind of grinds you down. I mean, I've been hustling for grants from funding agencies for 40 years and I kind of burned out on it, you know, it's hard. It doesn't get any easier because there's younger whippersnappers that are very smart and, you know, they're going to get your grant. So it definitely made me reflect on the sort of hyper competitive nature of some parts of zack_jackson (51:21.042) Hmm. ian (51:21.047) Mm-hmm. rachael (51:28.721) Thank you. Bye. chris_impey (51:39.719) and just reflect on what is important. Is it important to know something, or to teach something, or to give something, or to what is important? And how does that work when you're a scientist and educator? And that's it. Thank you for watching. I hope you enjoyed this video. I'll see you in the next one. Bye. ian (51:56.043) Yeah. Well, it's just interesting reading the book and I told you before we're recording. I've not been on to finish it yet, but I look forward to finish it just because, you know, one, you know, as I've already said, you're a fantastic writer for the lay audience, the general public, which is not something, you know, I've, I've worked with many scientists as a science educator and many of the ones I've worked with have said they struggle with that. Right. So I always applaud that. Um, but then just the, the personal experiences you shared and. chris_impey (51:59.833) I'm ian (52:26.163) humble before the void was just very interesting to me, especially someone who I have embraced meditation and mindfulness over the past three or four years and gotten really into it. And so, you know, first when I, when you shared that book with us and saw that the Dalai Lama wrote, you know, the preface for it and everything, I just was immediately fascinated because I find him to be absolutely fascinating in his perspective on things. So chris_impey (52:47.298) Yeah, I mean, I was, I mean, I've been privileged to meet him a couple of times. And, uh, and it's always, uh, a singular experience. Uh, the first time was that first trip out actually. And, and it was in that same Tibetan children village. And that was, this was in the winter. I was a January is a very, um, very difficult time to be there. It's in the foothills of the Himalayas. Quite high up. Dharamsala has trivial factoid that a Brit will appreciate like me. Um, It has the world's highest cricket stadium. And so drum solo, there you go. Now you know, when you get asked that, now you know. So we were in this auditorium, this cold auditorium, very cold, and they'd given the Westerners blankets, put over their legs, and even a few little heaters around. But it was brutal. And he was going to give an opening address. And everyone was full of excitement and anticipation. It was probably 2,000 people. But it was a cold, it was an unadorned Spartan auditorium ian (53:20.331) Oh. zack_jackson (53:20.594) Hmm. Ha ha ha. ian (53:25.403) Exactly. zack_jackson (53:34.892) Hmm. chris_impey (53:47.498) on a below freezing day in the Himalayas. And along that football field outside, which is the way his little, he has the equivalent of a pokemobile, he has the DL mobile or whatever that he comes into a place with, that he was gonna come along the edge of the field. And I'd seen walking in that the school children were starting to assemble in a long row along the side of the football field along the place his vehicle would come. And we were waiting zack_jackson (54:01.775) Thank you. Bye. chris_impey (54:17.258) He was late and it was so cold and it was quiet. People were murmuring, nothing was happening. And then suddenly we heard this sound, this wave of singing. So they were singing him in as his vehicle arrived. And I was like, wow, that was so cool. Just the sound of that. And then he came and he just radiates when he's in a room. And he's a little frail. He had trouble getting up the three steps onto the stage. But his grin is just... Oh, it's just... anyone who remelt the hardest heart. He's just so... and his comments are always, you know, they're always kind of offhand and insightful and, you know, he has a very interesting and sensibility. So that's been a remarkable thing. But the monks all had their own insights and I learned a lot from them. I mean, I was teaching them but I was learning a lot from them. And they gave me, you know, when you teach, well, the other thing I didn't say about the ian (55:12.667) Mm-hmm. chris_impey (55:17.418) experience there, which was also restorative for me, is, you know, I depend on my high tech gadgets and my PowerPoints and my whatever. And I was pretty much warned. I said, you're going to be pretty much off the grid. And it was almost like that. And there were a couple of workshops where, you know, if the cold water, if the water was hot, you were lucky. If the power stayed on all day in the classroom, you were lucky. There was hardly any equipment. We make these, these runs rachael (55:25.325) Hmm. chris_impey (55:47.278) These equipment runs down to the local bazaar, and we buy matchsticks and cloth and cardboard and foil and just super primitive ingredients to make experiments back in the classroom, rather than bring stuff out from the West. So you had to improvise, and it was good to do that. It was good to have to lecture and talk and use simple analogies and simple equipment. And so they informed me about that, too, because I wondered how they understood zack_jackson (56:02.75) Thank you. Bye. chris_impey (56:17.278) these very abstract things of physics and cosmology. And I think the first striking little insight I had, because I was always reaching for a good analogy. And then, so I sort of turned the tab

A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts. www.catholicnewsagency.com - A group of Benedictine nuns from Argentina will soon take up residence in the Vatican monastery where Pope Benedict XVI lived after resigning the papacy. The Benedictine Order of the Abbey of Saint Scholastica of Victoria, located in the province of Buenos Aires, accepted Pope Francis' invitation to form a monastic community in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery, the Vatican said November 13. The six nuns will move into the monastery, which is located in the Vatican Gardens in Vatican City State, in early January. Saint John Paul II canonically erected the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery for nuns of contemplative life in 1994. Different groups of cloistered nuns, rotating every three years, lived in the convent until November 2012. Benedict XVI spent his retirement in prayer and meditation there. He was assisted by his personal secretary Archbishop Georg Gänswein and four consecrated women. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255992/after-benedict-xvi-s-death-vatican-monastery-to-be-home-to-benedictine-nuns Sheet music was made available online last week for the official hymns of the upcoming National Eucharistic Revival, which were chosen from among hundreds of entries in a contest last summer. The National Eucharistic Revival is the US bishops' three-year initiative to inspire belief in and reverence for the Eucharist. The winning hymn and theme song, which were chosen from among some 177 entries, were announced in August. Links to download the sheet music, available in English and Spanish for both compositions, can be found at the National Eucharistic Revival's blog post. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255994/prizewinning-eucharistic-revival-hymns-released-for-use-in-parishes Despite not being religious, Dean Gregory, the father of 8-month-old Indi Gregory, said that his time in court fighting for his daughter's life felt like he had been “dragged to hell.” Indi died in her mother's arms in hospice on Nov. 13 after her parents repeatedly appealed in UK courts to be able to take their baby to Rome for treatment. They lost their legal battle when the second-highest court in the UK ruled on November 10 that Indy's life support be removed “immediately.”The experience moved him to decide to have his daughter baptized. “I am not religious and I am not baptized,” Gregory told an Italian newspaper in an interview. “But when I was in court I felt like I had been dragged to hell. I thought that if hell exists, then heaven must also exist.” He added: “It was as if the devil was there. I thought that if the devil exists, then God must exist.” During Indi's time in the neonatal intensive care unit, a Christian volunteer visited daily. It was during those visits, Gregory explained, that he was told “baptism protects you and opens the door to heaven for you.” “I've seen what hell is like and I want Indi to go to heaven,” he expressed. Indi was baptized on September 22. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/255997/baby-indi-gregorys-father-says-he-chose-baptism-for-her-after-feeling-dragged-to-hell Today, the Church celebrates Saint Lawrence O'Toole, bishop of Dublin in the 12th century. Saint Lawrence was most widely known for his piety, charity, and prudence, and was respected as a negotiator. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-lawrence-otoole-53 The Church also celebrates Blessed John Licci, one of the longest living holy men of the Church. His 111 years on this earth in a small town near Palermo, Sicily, were filled with many miracles. John joined the Dominicans in 1415. He wore the habit for 96 years which is the longest known period for any religious. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/blessed-john-licci-655

On "EWTN News Nightly" tonight: The Promoter of Justice for the Vatican City State, Alessandro Diddi, started a two-week hearing to sum up his arguments in his high-profile case against ten people accused of alleged financial crimes. Questions were also raised about Pope Francis' role in the case. EWTN Vatican Journalist, Jen Copestake, reports. The Senate Judiciary Committee was sharply divided on whether Congress has the right to require the Supreme Court to come up with a basic code of ethics. Capitol Hill Correspondent, Erik Rosales, reports. President Biden is attending a steel-cutting ceremony for the Acadia, the vessel needed to build offshore wind farms that his administration says could support hundreds of new union jobs. White House Correspondent, Owen Jensen, reports. Every five years, the African National Eucharistic Congress brings together African Catholics in the United States to celebrate the living presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and share in a rich heritage. Danielle M. Brown of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, sheds light on the importance of this year's Congress taking place July 21-23, 2023 in Washington, D.C. and what attendees will gain from attending it. Lastly tonight, Patti Armstrong of the National Catholic Register, joins us to reflect on the success of the blockbuster movie, ‘Sound of Freedom' and how the motion picture has enlightened many about the tragedy of human trafficking. Don't miss out on the latest news and analysis from a Catholic perspective. Get EWTN News Nightly delivered to your email: https://ewtn.com/enn

In this episode:Pope makes American president of Vatican Supreme CourtPope sends Archbishop Gänswein packing?Pope removes possibility for appeals in criminal trials‘Vatican Girl' conspiracy implicates Dominicans?Naked protester climbs on top of St. Peter's altarSupport the show

On "EWTN News Nightly" tonight: A House Judiciary Subcommittee is holding a hearing revisiting the implications of the FACE Act, which ensures Americans' access to pro-life and pro-abortion health services. And, President Joe Biden once again invited top Congressional leaders to the White House, to try to reach an agreement before the nation runs out of time to meet its financial obligations. Meanwhile, Pope Francis issued a new fundamental law of Vatican City State, replacing that of the year 2000. EWTN Vatican Bureau Chief, Andreas Thonhauser, joins to tell us more about this new law. May is National Foster Care Month and a new study claims some in the foster care community are being housed in inappropriate places. One of the authors of the study and president and executive director of Lifeline Children's Services, Herbie Newell, joins to share what some of the findings that stood out are. And we share part 2 of the interview with Archbishop Bashar Matta Warda, CSsR, the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Erbil, Iraq, who has been very outspoken about religious persecution in the Middle East, specifically Iraq. Finally this evening, a new exhibit in the nation's capitol is drawing heavily from the Vatican libraries. The Museum of the Bibles is hosting "A Journey of Faith: the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome." Officer with the Museum of the Bible, Jeff Kloha, joins to tell us more about this incredible exhibit. Don't miss out on the latest news and analysis from a Catholic perspective. Get EWTN News Nightly delivered to your email: https://ewtn.com/enn

Fr Daly Named Delegate of the General Director for the International Communities in Rome Father John Connor, general director of the Legionaries of Christ, communicated, in a letter to the Congregation, the naming of Father David Daly, LC, as delegate of the General Director for the international communities in Rome. 1:33 29 Legionaries of Christ Ordained at the 2023 Priestly Ordinations On April 29th, 2023, Cardinal Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, LC, president of the Pontifical Commission and the Governorate of Vatican City State, ordained 29 Legionaries of Christ to the priesthood in the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome. 6:43 RC Music Collective Now on Hallow! You can now find RC Music Collective on Hallow, a Catholic prayer app that offers a wide selection of contemplative prayer, meditation, Catholic Bible readings, music, and more. Find out more at this link!

On July 27, 2021, a trial began inside the Vatican Museums before a bench of three judges of the Vatican City State's court. Now, more than 600 days since arguments began in the specially remodeled Vatican rooms, the trial continues. At the center of the trial is Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the substitute for General Affairs at the Vatican's Secretariat of State from 2011-18, the equivalent of the Vatican's chief of staff. He is being tried for embezzlement and abuse of his office. The cardinal is also the highest-ever prelate to be tried by the tribunal since Pope Francis changed the Vatican's rules in April 2021 to allow bishops and cardinals to stand trial in civil and criminal matters.  Cardinal Becciu was effectively responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Holy See for 7 years, before he was appointed prefect of the then-Congregation for the Causes of Saints, before he suddenly resigned from that role and relinquished his privileges as cardinal, which include the right to vote in any future conclave.  The trial principally investigates the controversial $225 million purchase of an investment property in Chelsea, London, which is one of the wealthiest districts in the world. It is alleged the property was paid for, in part, using funds collected from Peter's Pence, a Vatican fund intended to help the church in its various needs across the world, especially in its outreach and relief to the most materially impoverished people and places.  This week on “Inside the Vatican,” co-hosts Ricardo da Silva, S.J., and Gerard O'Connell discuss the most recent happenings at the Vatican's mega-trial of the century and what has surfaced from the testimony of key witnesses. In the second half of the show, the hosts look at allegations arising from a new documentary on Polish television which alleges that when Pope John Paul II was archbishop of Krakow he knew of and covered up allegations of the sexual abuse of minors by three priests under his care.   Related links: Top Vatican official says London property deal was a double ‘Via Crucis' John Paul II knew of and concealed child sex abuse as archbishop, Polish TV reports In a historic first, a cardinal stood trial at the Vatican over involvement in a real estate scandal The biggest criminal trial in modern Vatican history begins tomorrow. Here's what you need to know. Powerful Vatican Cardinal Becciu resigns amid financial scandal Cardinals and bishops to lose special legal privileges under new papal decree Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mike Lynn joins #Clockedin with Jordan Edwards and discusses his experience from Corporate Worker to Entreprenuer. It is an unusual path and interesting story.   Michael Lynn is a co-founder of Pray.com where he serves as Chief Financial Officer. Pray.com is the world's #1 app for daily prayer and faith-based audio content, driven by a mission to grow faith and cultivate community. He helped start Pray.com in 2016.Before joining the Pray.com team, Lynn spent 13 years at Merrill Lynch as a private wealth advisor specifically in the Private Banking and Investment Group (PBIG). In addition, Lynn served asa board member for LA's Best After school Enrichment Program, an organization that brings safe and enriching after-school education and recreation to elementary school children in Los Angeles. Lynn brings expertise in the areas of financial management, political affairs, and asset protection to the Pray.com team. Always interested in entrepreneurship but waiting for the right idea, Lynn attended a conference in Santa Monica, Calif., where a panel of entrepreneurs from USC and UCLA shared their stories. Standing out among the panelists was Steve Gatena, fellow co-founder of Pray.com. Lynn introduced himself to Gatena, and they became friends. During the summer of 2016, as they met for pizza, Gatena introduced Lynn to the concept of Pray.com. That very night, because he trusted Gatena and believed in the idea of delivering faith to more people, Lynn decided to leave his career at Merrill Lynch to help found Pray.com. Lynn is a confirmed Catholic and values the importance of faith. His time at Pray.com has strengthened his own faith and widened his perspective on prayer, as Pray.com is an all-inclusive app that helps everyone make prayer a priority in their life. Developing a core competency in political affairs, Lynn has facilitated conversations between Pray.com and the President of the United States, the President of the United Nations General Assembly and the Vatican City State. Furthermore, he worked with the Federal Election Commission to issue an opinion that allowed members of the U.S. Congress to appear on Pray.com.Born and raised in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Lynn came from a modest, blue-collar family. He was inspired to enter a career in finance after an advisor took advantage of his mother in a poor investment, and he wanted to prevent that from happening to other individuals. Lynn graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a Bachelor of Science in personal finance and then moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of California, where he received his MBA with a focus in finance and concentration in entrepreneurship. Lynn is an avid runner and completed three marathons in 2019 as well as running his own in 2020 amidst the pandemic.To Find out More:https://www.pray.com/ Bible of Year Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bible-in-a-year-with-fr-mike-schmitz/id1539568321  To Reach Jordan:Email: Jordan@Edwards.Consulting Youtube:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9ejFXH1_BjdnxG4J8u93Zw Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jordan.edwards.7503 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jordanfedwards/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanedwards5/ Hope you find value in this. If so please provide a 5-star and drop a review.Complimentary Edwards Consulting Session: https://calendly.com/jordan-555/intro-call

A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts. www.catholicnewsagency.com - Saint Peter's Basilica will now host an hour of Eucharistic adoration on its front portico once a month. Beginning March 14, adoration will take place every second Tuesday from 8-9 pm on the parvise in front of the Vatican basilica leading to St. Peter's Square. The March 14 adoration will be led by Cardinal Mauro Gambetti who is the archpriest of Saint Peter's Basilica. The prayer will be offered for Pope Francis in light of his 10th anniversary as pope. Saint Peter's Basilica is typically open every day from 7 am to 6:30 pm in the winter or 7 pm in the summer. The Eucharist is also exposed in Saint Peter's Basilica for adoration in the Chapel of the Most Blessed Sacrament from approximately 9 am to 4:45 pm Monday through Saturday. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253828/vatican-basilica-to-hold-monthly-eucharistic-adoration-on-portico In a new blow to the Church in Nicaragua, the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega has ordered the legal status of several institutions to be revoked, including that of John Paul II Catholic University. The reason given for the decision was “noncompliance” with the obligations of the universities “according to the laws that regulate them.” The cancellation affects the students and campuses of the John Paul II Catholic University in Managua, Juigalpa Chontales, Matagalpa, and Granada, as well as UCAN and its locations in León, Chinandega, Estelí, Juigalpa Chontales, Masaya, and Matagalpa. The university responded by saying that "the Lord is the master of our history, and that in the most adverse moments He has supported us and will continue to do so." https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253829/dictatorship-in-nicaragua-dissolves-john-paul-ii-catholic-university Daniel Ortega has also dissolved Caritas Nicaragua and Caritas Jinotega, aid organizations of the Catholic Church that assist those most in need in the Central American country. Caritas Jinotega provided food for the country's poorest people, donations of crutches and prostheses, delivered medicines at low cost, among many other charitable works. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253831/ortega-dictatorship-dissolves-caritas-nicaragua-catholic The Vatican held a hearing Thursday to try three climate activists for criminal damage to a famous statue in the Vatican Museums. Guido Viero, 61, and Ester Goffi, 26, were ordered to appear before the Vatican City State's tribunal on March 9. Viero and Goffi superglued their hands to the marble base holding Laocoön and His Sons, an ancient marble sculpture on display in the Vatican Museums, on the morning of August 18, 2022. They are accused of damaging the base of the statue through the use of “particularly tough and corrosive synthetic adhesive.” The three are part of Ultima Generazione (“Last Generation”), an Italian group that encourages nonviolent civil disobedience to “raise the alarm on the climate emergency.” https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253824/vatican-takes-climate-activists-to-trial-for-damage-to-base-of-famous-statue-in-vatican-museums Today, the Church celebrates Saint Aurea, a young 11th century Spanish woman who lived a life of sacrifice in a convent before dying in her late 20s. The Church also celebrates Saint Sophronius, a courageous leader of the Jerusalem Church during the Islamic conquests of the seventh century, who is more commonly venerated among Eastern Catholics and within the Eastern Orthodox churches. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/calendar/2022-3-11

A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts. www.catholicnewsagency.com - Cardinal George Pell, prefect emeritus of the Vatican Secretariat for the Economy, died on Tuesday at the age of 81. The Australian cardinal suffered a cardiac arrest following a routine hip replacement surgery. Pell served for many years as archbishop of Melbourne and then Sydney before Pope Francis appointed him to lead the Vatican's economy department in 2014. In 2017, Pell left Rome for Australia to defend his innocence of abuse charges. After 404 days in prison he was ultimately acquitted in 2020. He returned to live in Rome on Sept. 30, 2020. Pope Francis on Wednesday praised Pell's witness, dedication, and faith. “I offer sentiments of heartfelt condolence,” the pope said in a January 11 message, “remembering with a grateful heart his consistent and committed witness, his dedication to the Gospel and the Church, and particularly his diligent cooperation with the Holy See in the context of its recent economic reform, of which he laid the foundations with determination and wisdom.” The Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, said a memorial Mass will be held for Pell at Saint Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, where he will be buried. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253312/breaking-cardinal-george-pell-dies-at-81 https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253318/pope-francis-praises-cardinal-george-pell-s-dedication-to-the-church Pope Francis' prayer intention for the month of January is for educators. “Education is an act of love that illuminates the path for us to recover a sense of fraternity, so we will not ignore those who are most vulnerable,” the pope said in a video message. The Holy Father concluded the video message with a prayer: “Let us pray that educators may be credible witnesses, teaching fraternity rather than confrontation and helping especially the youngest and most vulnerable above all.” https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253305/this-is-pope-francis-prayer-intention-for-the-month-of-january The Vatican promoter of justice announced Monday that the investigation into the vanishing of Emanuela Orlandi, a teenaged Vatican citizen whose disappearance in the 1980s has since spawned myriad conspiracy theories, will be reopened. In a brief statement posted to Vatican News, the Holy See Press Office director, Matteo Bruni, reported Monday that the decision to reopen the investigation was made partly in response to several requests made by Orlandi's family. Emanuela Orlandi was the 15-year-old daughter of Ercole Orlandi, an envoy of the Prefecture of the Pontifical House and a citizen of Vatican City State. Her disappearance on June 22, 1983, after leaving for a music lesson in Rome dominated headlines and has been the subject of speculation for years. The Vatican statement did not elaborate further on the reasons why the case is being reopened, but public interest in the case was rekindled last fall after the release of the docuseries “Vatican Girl: The Disappearance of Emanuela Orlandi” on Netflix. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253306/investigation-into-vatican-girl-cold-case-reopened-amid-rekindled-public-interest Today, the Church celebrates Saint Theodosius Abbott, a fifth-century hermit who lived in a cave in the desert of Judah and founded a monastery at Cathismus. Next to the monastery he built a hospital for the sick, a hospice for the aged, and a mental hospital. He continued to work until his health gave out, and spent the rest of his time praying for his community. He died at the age of 105. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-theodosius-abbot-113

This week on The Pillar Podcast, JD and Ed talk about the Vatican City State's new chief prosecutor and a profound and serious problem out of Germany. Ed plays a round of Belgium trivia. - This episode of The Pillar Podcast is brought to you by Harmel Academy of the Trades, a community of work, prayer and study where men seek holiness through high-demand, Skilled Trades. To learn more, visit HarmelAcademy.org.

Presumably, the precincts of history were seemingly punctuated with Timelines. Contextually speaking this lens when use as a rhetorical device had the capacity to capture and frame a sequence of events between the periods 1966 to 2021 regarding the evolution of culture within Barbados' historical space. The same was seemingly juxtaposed against the theory "the determination of the actual temporal sequence of past events". That said as an Author, Cinematographer, Media Arts Specialist, License Cultural Practitioner, Podcaster and Publisher I am au fait with this phrase because I have applied Timelines theoretically and practically in two different ways during my academic tenure in pursuance of a bachelors degree in Media Arts at New Jersey City University.On this occasion  it is applied in this conversation TIMELINES A WAY OF LIFE © 2021 ISBN 978-976-96768-9-3 will be captured and framed in19 chapters in publication 245 and verbalized in Podcast 133 .WORKS CITEDAfghanistan: The United Nations currently recognizes the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan as the government of Afghanistan instead of the de facto ruling govern-ment, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.Ali, Arif (1997). Barbados: Just Beyond Your Imagina-tion. Hansib Publishing (Caribbean) Ltd. pp. 46, 48. ISBN 1-870518-54-3.The Vatican is an elective absolute monarchy and a Roman Catholic theocracy; its monarch, the Pope, is the head of the global Roman Catholic Church. His power within the Vatican City State is unlimited by any con-stitution; however, as all its citizens and its resi-dents are ordained Catholic clergy, members of the Swiss Guard, or their immediate family, they arguably have consented to obey the Pope or are minors. (Citi-zenship is jus officii, on the grounds of appointment to work in a certain capacity in the service of the Ho-ly See and usually ceases upon cessation of the ap-pointment. Citizenship is also extended to the spouse and children of a citizen, provided they are living to-gether in the city; in practice, these are few in num-ber, since the bulk of Vatican citizens are celibate Catholic clerics or religious. Some individuals are al-so authorized to reside in the city but do not qualify or choose not to request citizenship.)[37]AXSES Systems Caribbean Inc., The Barbados Tourism En-cyclopaedia". Barbados.org. 8 February 2007. Archived from the original on 16 January 2000. Retrieved 4 July 2010Barbados Parliament Bills Archive". www.barbadosparliament.com. Retrieved 8 October 2021.  Barbados to become a parliamentary republic by Novem-ber 30". Loop News. 27 July 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.Do it the democratic way". Barbados Today. 29 August 2021. Retrieved 7 October 2021.Drewett, Peter (1991). Prehistoric Barbados. Barbados Museum and Historical Society. ISBN 1-873132-15-8. https://www.nationnews.com/2021/11/30/atherley-continue-seek-new-levels-achievement/https://www.vocabulary.com › dictionary › timelinehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_system_of_government https://www.washingtonpost.com › world ›Karl Watson, The Civil War in Barbados Archived 2 De-cember 2010 at the Wayback Machine, History in-depth, BBC, 5 November 2009.Robertson, Nic; Kohzad, Nilly; Lister, Tim; Regan, Helen (6 September 2021). "Taliban claims victory in Panjshir, but resistance forces say they still control strategic position in the valley". CNN. Retrieved 6 September 2021."Britannica Encyclopaedia: History of Barbados". Bri-tannica.com. Archived from the original on 13 September 2010. Retrieved 4 July 2010."DLP President calls for a referendum". Barbados Advo-cate. 8 April 2021. Retrieved 7 OSupport the show (http://www.buzzsprout.com/429292)

A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts. www.catholicnewsagency.com - A Catholic high school in San Francisco is defending its decision to host a pro-life speaker at an all-school assembly, after students at the school staged a walkout because of the speaker. Students reportedly began to exit the assembly about five minutes into the presentation. By the end of the walkout, only a few dozen of the school's more than 800 students remained in the auditorium. Despite the walkout, the school's president said the assembly was an opportunity for students to learn more about the dignity of human life. Pope Francis celebrated Mass today for the repose of the souls of more than two hundred cardinals and bishops, who died in the past year. Seventeen cardinals, and 191 bishops and archbishops died in the past year. Last year's Mass commemorated six cardinals, and 163 bishops and archbishops. The higher death rate of this year reflects the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the Church's leadership. The pope has appointed a Franciscan sister to the second-ranking position in the government of the Vatican City State. Sister Raffaella Petrini is the first woman and non-clergy member to hold the position. The appointment makes her one of the highest-ranking women at the Vatican. Today is the feast of Saint Charles Borromeo.

Vatican City is now providing a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The vulnerable, and those over the age of 60, are being prioritized. Pope Francis and Benedict the Sixteenth may be among the first group to receive a third dose. The Vatican City State is requiring all employees, officials and visitors to show proof of vaccination or recent recovery from the coronavirus, or a recent negative COVID test. Pope Francis is considering a visit to Canada. Canadian bishops invited the pope to visit Canada, to be a part of the Church's process of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. No date has been set for the visit. The pope will also meet in December with delegations of Indigenous tribes from Canada. Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew the First met with U-S leaders in Washington this week, including President Joe Biden. The leaders discussed religious freedom and climate change. They also announced an interfaith initiative to encourage vaccination against COVID-19. Does your spiritual life need a boost? Place yourself in front of Christ Crucified. That was the message of Pope Francis today, during his general audience in Rome. The pope encouraged Catholics to hold a Crucifix, and take some time in adoration, to reconnect with God. The pope's words were a continuation of his reflections on Saint Paul's letter to the Galatians. Today is the feast of Saint Frumentius, the patron of Ethiopia.

A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts. - Catholic Relief Services has warned of a hunger pandemic affecting the elderly population in Cuba. The country is experiencing shortages of food, hygiene supplies and personal health protection equipment, due to the coronavirus pandemic. About twenty percent of Cuba's population is elderly. Catholic Relief Services and other humanitarian agencies are running a house-to-house soup kitchen program. The archbishop of Munich and Freising has said he may again ask Pope Francis to accept his resignation. Cardinal Reinhard Marx first submitted his resignation in May, amid the fallout from the clerical abuse crisis in Germany. Pope Francis declined his resignation. Marx is a member of the pope's advisory Council of Cardinals. He is also coordinator of the Vatican's Council for the Economy. Until last year, he was chairman of the German bishops' conference. Monday marked the five year anniversary of the murder of French priest Father Jacques Hamel. The priest was killed during Mass in 2016, by supporters of the Islamic State. Four people suspected of involvement in the attack will go on trial in Paris in early 2022. The priest's cause for sainthood formally opened in 2017, one year after his death. The Vatican court held the first hearing today in a trial against ten people charged with committing financial crimes against the Holy See. Among the defendants is Cardinal Angelo Becciu. He is the first ever cardinal to be tried by the tribunal of the Vatican City State since Pope Francis changed the rules to allow it in April. Today the Church remembers Blessed Mary Magdalen Martinengo. Mary was born to a noble family in Italy. She joined the Capuchins and eventually became superior of her community. She had a great devotion to the Passion of Christ.

Role of Law Award Citation 2013 Delivered by CLSA President Reverend John R. Vaughan Each year the Canon Law Society of America presents its distinguished Role of Law Award to an individual considered to be outstanding in the field of canonical science. The By-Laws of the Society directs the Board of Governors to select a person who demonstrates in his or her life and legal practice the following characteristics: Embodiment of pastoral attitude, commitment to research and study, participation in the development of law, response to needs or practical assistance, facilitation of dialogue and the interchange of ideas within the Society and with other groups. These  qualifications  are  a  concise  re-statement  of  the  constitutionally-expressed purposes of the Society. The person to whom this award is given is viewed by us as one who embodies all that we, as members of the Society hold dear, as one to whom we can look for guidance and inspiration. Such an official statement alone is perhaps the greatest honor that can be bestowed on anyone – to be selected by one's friends and peers as outstanding among them. The  canonist  we  honor  today  has  been  a  good  and  faithful  servant  of  the Church and of the Law for many years. Born and educated in the Empire State, our recipient was ordained to the priesthood in 1963. Having received his doctorate in Canon Law from the Gregorian University in 1975 – his thesis was “The Requirement of Perpetuity for the Impediment of Impotence”. He has been an active member of our Society since 1976. Although  many  know  of  our  recipient's  canonical  expertise,  few  here  are aware of his affection for golf. One of his friends relates the story of playing one day and his bragging to the opponent how well he was playing. The opponent told our friend “not to count his money before the match was over.” Our awardee announced, “I am not counting my money, I'm counting yours!” After a variety of pastoral assignments in his diocese, our recipient was named by Blessed John Paul II as a Judge of the Roman Rota on April 3, 1986 where he served for twenty-six years, becoming a Prelate Emeritus on October 9, 2012. Through the years our distinguished colleague has authored numerous articles such as The Special Penal Norms of the United States and Their Application,; Deceit  and  Induced  Error  about  a  Personal  Quality;  Invalid  Convalidation: A Legitimate Autonomous Ground of Marriage Nullity? While serving in the Rota, he also worked with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on the Commission for Ratum et  Non  Consummatum  cases,  and  on  the  Commission  for  dispensations  from the obligations of the priesthood. He is a Consultor of the Congregation of the Clergy, and was a member of the Disciplinary Commission of the Roman Curia until he became a Judge of the Court of Appeal of Vatican City State in 2004. During his time in Rome, he was an invited Professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University and at the University of the Santa Croce. By now I am certain that everyone here knows the identity of our honored recipient  and  undoubtedly  many  are  familiar  with  his  many  sentences  coram Boccafola. Please join me in thanking this eminent canonist for the work he has done for our Society and for the universal Church. As president of the Canon Law Society of America, it is my honor to present the 2013 Role of Law Award, on this our 75th anniversary, to Monsignor Kenneth Everett Boccafola.

This episode is an interview of Monsignor Boccafola conducted in January 2021. Each year the Canon Law Society of America presents its distinguished Role of Law Award to an individual considered to be outstanding in the field of canonical science. The By-Laws of the Society directs the Board of Governors to select a person who demonstrates in his or her life and legal practice the following characteristics: Embodiment of pastoral attitude, commitment to research and study, participation in the development of law, response to needs or practical assistance, facilitation of dialogue and the interchange of ideas within the Society and with other groups. These  qualifications  are  a  concise  re-statement  of  the  constitutionally-expressed purposes of the Society. The person to whom this award is given is viewed by us as one who embodies all that we, as members of the Society hold dear, as one to whom we can look for guidance and inspiration. Such an official statement alone is perhaps the greatest honor that can be bestowed on anyone – to be selected by one's friends and peers as outstanding among them. The  canonist  we  honor  today  has  been  a  good  and  faithful  servant  of  the Church and of the Law for many years. Born and educated in the Empire State, our recipient was ordained to the priesthood in 1963. Having received his doctorate in Canon Law from the Gregorian University in 1975 – his thesis was “The Requirement of Perpetuity for the Impediment of Impotence”. He has been an active member of our Society since 1976. Although  many  know  of  our  recipient's  canonical  expertise,  few  here  are aware of his affection for golf. One of his friends relates the story of playing one day and his bragging to the opponent how well he was playing. The opponent told our friend “not to count his money before the match was over.” Our awardee announced, “I am not counting my money, I'm counting yours!” After a variety of pastoral assignments in his diocese, our recipient was named by Blessed John Paul II as a Judge of the Roman Rota on April 3, 1986 where he served for twenty-six years, becoming a Prelate Emeritus on October 9, 2012. Through the years our distinguished colleague has authored numerous articles such as The Special Penal Norms of the United States and Their Application,; Deceit  and  Induced  Error  about  a  Personal  Quality;  Invalid  Convalidation: A Legitimate Autonomous Ground of Marriage Nullity? While serving in the Rota, he also worked with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on the Commission for Ratum et  Non  Consummatum  cases,  and  on  the  Commission  for  dispensations  from the obligations of the priesthood. He is a Consultor of the Congregation of the Clergy, and was a member of the Disciplinary Commission of the Roman Curia until he became a Judge of the Court of Appeal of Vatican City State in 2004. During his time in Rome, he was an invited Professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University and at the University of the Santa Croce. By now I am certain that everyone here knows the identity of our honored recipient  and  undoubtedly  many  are  familiar  with  his  many  sentences  coram Boccafola. Please join me in thanking this eminent canonist for the work he has done for our Society and for the universal Church. As president of the Canon Law Society of America, it is my honor to present the 2013 Role of Law Award, on this our 75th anniversary, to Monsignor Kenneth Everett Boccafola.

Part 1:Reality & Society: History of the Roman Catholic Church Government & Armies-Part 1 (thelionstares.com) In part 1 we break down the meaning of the words Roman Catholic Church and Vatican as well as touched upon some idol worshiping and why Latin was/is the official language of the Roman Catholic Church. Again Mystery Babylon is your Entire World. The pope (All of them) are your false prophets and the Roman Catholic Church is the Whore of Babylon. In part 2 we are going to identify the origins of Rome. Where appropriate I will insert questions about the pope. What was Rome first called? The Eternal City It was first called The Eternal City (Latin: Urbs Aeterna; Italian: La Città Eterna) by the Roman poet Tibullus in the 1st century BC, and the expression was also taken up by Ovid, Virgil, and Livy. Rome is also called "Caput Mundi" (Capital of the World). What does the Holy See mean?- Encyclopedia Britannica The Holy See is the name given to the government of the Roman Catholic Church, which is led by the pope as the bishop of Rome. As such, the Holy See's authority extends over Catholics throughout the world. Is The Catholic Church a Government?-U.S Department of State The Holy See is the universal government of the Catholic Church and operates from Vatican City State, a sovereign, independent territory. The Pope is the ruler of both Vatican City State and the Holy See. What does the word Catholic Mean? The word Catholic (usually written with uppercase C in English when referring to religious matters; derived via Late Latin catholicus, from the Greek adjective καθολικός (katholikos), meaning "universal") comes from the Greek phrase καθόλου (katholou), meaning "on the whole", "according to the whole" or "in general" https://www.thelionstares.com/post/reality-society-history-of-the-roman-catholic-church-government-armies-part-2 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lions-tares/support

Brothers and Sisters, The Mystery Babylon is the Whole World. The false Prophet is your pope and the whore of Babylon is the Roman Catholic Church. You will see this I pray for we are called to Come out of Her which is the whore of Babylon the Unholy Roman Church!!! What does the Holy See mean?- Encyclopedia Britannica The Holy See is the name given to the government of the Roman Catholic Church, which is led by the pope as the bishop of Rome. As such, the Holy See's authority extends over Catholics throughout the world. Is The Catholic Church a Government?-U.S Department of State The Holy See is the universal government of the Catholic Church and operates from Vatican City State, a sovereign, independent territory. The Pope is the ruler of both Vatican City State and the Holy See. U.S.-HOLY SEE RELATIONS- U.S. Department of State The Holy See is the universal government of the Catholic Church and operates from Vatican City State, a sovereign, independent territory. The Pope is the ruler of both Vatican City State and the Holy See. The Holy See, as the supreme body of government of the Catholic Church, is a sovereign juridical entity under international law. The United States and the Holy See consult and cooperate on international issues of mutual interest, including human rights, peace and conflict prevention, poverty eradication and development, environmental protection, and inter-religious understanding. Since his inauguration, Pope Francis has acted as a global advocate for human dignity and justice, placing particular emphasis on the moral imperative of caring for the poor and marginalized. The United States and the Holy See enjoy a positive relationship that serves to amplify a global message of peace, freedom, and justice. The United States and the Holy See work together on shared priorities, such as promoting religious freedom and combating human trafficking. https://www.thelionstares.com/post/reality-society-the-government-of-the-holy-roman-catholic-church-the-holy-see-revelation-13 --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/lions-tares/support

FROM THE PAOLO VI HALL IN THE VATICAN, POPE FRANCIS' AUDIENCE WITH EMPLOYEES OF VATICAN CITY STATE FOR THE EXCHANGE OF CHRISTMAS GREETINGS. (The content of this podcast is copyrighted by the Dicastery for Communication which, according to its statute, is entrusted to manage and protect the sound recordings of the Roman Pontiff, ensuring that their pastoral character and intellectual property's rights are protected when used by third parties. The content of this podcast is made available only for personal and private use and cannot be exploited for commercial purposes, without prior written authorization by the Dicastery for Communication. For further information, please contact the International Relation Office at relazioni.internazionali@spc.va)

This episode covers the 1983 disappearance of Vatican City State citizen Emanuela Orlandi.  Sources: Vatican.com, Insider.com, catholicnewsagency.com, Georgia Marie, The Guardian, ABC News, The New York Times

In this podcast, Terry and Scot take a trip down memory lane to 1972 behind the Iron Curtain in Krakow, Poland. Terry and a group of musicians from Oral Roberts University had formed a music ministry called Living Sound. Thinking Living Sound was a rock and roll band, the Communist Youth Party of Poland invited the group to sing in their nightclub. Living Sound boldly stepped through the open door and shared the Gospel in song and testimonials. One special soloist that night was Terry's wife and Scot's mother, Jan, singing “He's My Rock, My Sword, My Shield.” Her voice lifted the name of Jesus and brought the power of the Holy Spirit to the unsuspecting crowd. That significant night was the beginning of a revival in Poland that spread like wildfire through the region and is credited for the eventual fall of communism.   At the time Living Sound visited Poland, the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church in Krakow was Cardinal Karol Wojtyla. Cardinal Wojtyla heard of Living Sound's nightclub experience and invited the group to his home. He loved young people, played the guitar and learned several Living Sound songs. Wojtyla played a Living Sound song titled “Hallelujah, Hallelujah” to a crowd of a million Poles. Incredible! A few years later in 1978 he became Pope John Paul II, head of the Catholic Church worldwide and sovereign of the Vatican City State. Living Sound was invited to visit Pope John Paul II at the Vatican in 1981.   Terry and Scot continue their walk down memory lane in this wonderful podcast by reflecting on the goodness of God that opened doors for Living Sound to minister in Catholic churches all over Europe. The Living Sound members who boldly walked through open doors in the 1970's felt incredible hope in God as they followed his leading to declare the Gospel behind the Iron Curtain.

FROM THE PAUL VI HALL IN THE VATICAN, POPE FRANCIS' AUDIENCE WITH EMPLOYEES OF VATICAN CITY STATE FOR THE EXCHANGE OF CHRISTAMS GREETINGS (The content of this podcast is copyrighted by the Dicastery for Communication which, according to its statute, is entrusted to manage and protect the sound recordings of the Roman Pontiff, ensuring that their pastoral character and intellectual property's rights are protected when used by third parties. The content of this podcast is made available only for personal and private use and cannot be exploited for commercial purposes, without prior written authorization by the Dicastery for Communication. For further information, please contact the International Relation Office at relazioni.internazionali@spc.va)

Summary of today's show: For our regular Thursday review of the week's news, Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy looked at this week's headlines, including the upcoming Divine Mercy Sunday and how the topic of mercy is emerging as a defining theme of Pope Francis' papacy; a brief summary of the Diviner Mercy devotion; and how Pope Francis' pick for Vatican Secretary of State will launch the much-expected reform of the Vatican Curia. Listen to the show: Watch the show via live video streaming or a recording later: Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today's guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today's show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot's and The Anchor's websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today's topics: Divine Mercy; Vatican Secretary of State and reform of the Vatican 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Susan Abbott, Gregory Tracy, and Fr. Roger Landry to the show. Fr. Roger said this week he was conducting a priests' retreat with priests from around the country, as they recuperated from the work of Holy Week and Easter. Susan said her Triduum was of course wonderful as it should be. Greg said his whole family was together on Holy Thursday and Good Friday, and he and his wife were at the cathedral at the Easter Vigil without the kids, but with the Neocatechumenal Way. Fr. Roger said the first time celebrating Holy Week in his new parish in Fall River was a little more work so he could work together with everyone who has been doing the things the same way for years. He said Good Friday is the toughest day because priests are fasting, but are going all day long with various services. On Holy Saturday he tried to rest. He then told a story of his Easter Vigil in which the fire for the liturgy went out but then spontaneously erupted. Scot said in his column this week in the Anchor, Fr. Roger wrote that Pope Francis wants the fruit of Easter to go beyond our heads to extend to our hearts. Fr. Roger said Pope Francis talked on Easter that love is triumphant. The truth of God's mercy has to be in our heart, so our heart believes what our head grasps. We have to internalize it. The column was an introduction to Pope Francis' teachings on mercy. He said in the book-length Spanish-language biography of Pope Francis, “The Jesuit”, he had talked about Jesus as the One who had saved us, yet so many of us are distant from the experience of gratitude for what Christ did for us. He noted that 74% of Catholics in the US never go to receive the Sacrament of Confession. Never. We're so supposed to go at least once per year and even more if possible. He said Christ appeared to St. Faustina in Poland in the 1930s as the Divine Mercy to ensure that His mercy isn't forgotten and that we should be open to it as much as possible. Scot asked Susan as a religious education professional how we can help people go from head-knowledge about Christ to knowing him in our hearts. She said that Pope John Paul II said catechesis is first about formation, secondly about information. It can't just be facts we know in our head. The Hebrew word for “know” means to be “seated in the heart.” We need to know dogma and doctrine, but we also have to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. When she works with adults in formation, they save the lesson on sacramental reconciliation for the second half of the process. She said the people from her parish who were baptized at the Easter vigil had sins fully forgiven and so on Tuesday she emphasized with them that going forward they need to know that reconciliation is a great gift and an obligation. Scot said Cardinal Dolan said to the bishops last year that the sacrament of the new evangelization is the sacrament of confession and in recent weeks Pope Francis has talked often of the need for Christ's mercy and how He reaches out to us. He said it's going to be a frequent message in his papacy that we need to accept Jesus as our savior, which changes the nature of our relationship with God. Greg talked about people who say Catholics are too hung up on sin, but the reality is that if we don't recognize our sins and what Christ has saved us from, then we have even more reason to be glad and to see what He has done for us. Fr. Roger said Pope Francis' motto clearly points to the fact that mercy will be a center point of his papacy. His motto “Miserando Atque Eligendo” comes Bl. Venerable Bede and shows that his vocation was born in an experience of God's mercy, when as a 16-year-old boy he went to confession on the Feast of St. Matthew. Pope Francis told us in his first homily that God will tire in offering his forgiveness, but that we often tire of asking for forgiveness. Scot asked Fr. Roger to give a brief summary of the Divine Mercy devotion and why the second Sunday of Easter is now Divine Mercy Sunday. Fr. Roger said when Jesus appeared to St. Faustina he specifically asked this Sunday to be set aside for Divine Mercy. The Gospel reading for that Sunday deals with Jesus giving the power to bind and loose sins to the apostles and thus the ability to hear confessions. Jesus revealed five practices to St. Faustina five practices to help us grow in the knowledge of Divine Mercy: acknowledging the three o'clock hour each day; praying the Divine Mercy chaplet; venerate the image of Divine Mercy; pray a novena of Divine Mercy leading up to Divine Mercy Sunday; and mark Divine Mercy Sunday with special devotion. Scot noted that the national Shrine for Divine Mercy is just a few hours away in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Greg said it's run by the Marians of the Immaculate Conception and he's gone a few times. 2nd segment: Scot said even before the conclave, in addition to the question of who would be the next pope, there was also the question of who the next pope would pick as Secretary of State to begin the reform of the Vatican Curia that so many people say is needed. Catholic News Service has published this article dealing with the question of who Pope Francis will pick. Greg said the Secretary of State is not like the US Secretary of State, but he's more like a vicar general of the archdiocese or the prime minister in a parliament who does the daily function of governance, while the head of state is a president or monarch. Greg said there's a lot of talk of the position going to an Italian as a consolation prize that an Italian didn't become pope. It could also be invaluable because of the close relations with Italy, but also because so much of the curia is an Italian. There's also a lot of talk of choosing an outsider from outside the curia. Three different Italians being talked about are Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, president of the commission governing Vatican City State; Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, who served under Cardinal Bertone for four years as the “substitute” in charge of the church's internal affairs; Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, prefect of the Congregation for Clergy; and Cardinal Maria Vigano, formerly the second-highest official in Vatican City State and now the pope's nuncio in Washington, DC. Fr. Roger said after this conclave with its unexpected results, the speculation in the media needs to be tempered in light of that so the fact that these names are mentioned doesn't mean that's who Pope Francis is thinking about. The new secretary needs to be able to work closely with Pope Francis and there needs to be a complementary. He needs to be a sign of contradiction, willing to make some people mad in the course of reform. He needs to be very well organized, capable of bringing about a culture that's organized and efficient. The corruption of the curia isn't moral, but mainly a corruption of inefficiency. There's also a corruption of nepotism, where connections and personal trust are more important than a lower bid. The new secretary, as chief foreign minister, must also be capable of working in diplomatic circles. The current secretary, Cardinal Bertone only speaks Spanish or Italian. Scot asked Susan why she thinks this is such a high-profile position where in the recent past most Catholics would have no clue such a position even existed. Susan said there's an awareness now that people want to know what's going on. Greg said this decision will be seen as an indicator of the trajectory of Pope Francis' papacy, especially since there was such emphasis on the need for reform in the run up to the conclave. He said it's akin to the attention paid to a new US president's first picks for his cabinet. Fr. Roger said he's not surprised that the appointment hasn't come yet. You wouldn't do that during Holy Week to avoid taking the focus off what's more important. It's also a sign he didn't know exactly who he wanted and wanted time to think about it. Fr. Roger noted that Cardinal Filoni and Cardinal Harvey were on the Pope's schedule today. He would be surprised if the appointment doesn't come within a month. Scot said he was surprised to learn that the Pope has never used a computer or even sent an email himself. He said he also admitted that he's tone-deaf,which is why he doesn't sing or chant during Mass or prayers. He gets all his news through printed newspapers, which Greg said we all should do.

Summary of today's show: Our usual Thursday panel of Scot Landry, Susan Abbott, Fr. Roger Landry, and Gregory Tracy looked at the news headlines of the week, including confirmation that assisted suicide will be on the ballot in Massachusetts in November; the excommunication of an illicitly ordained Chinese bishop; Cardinal Raymond Burke's public comments on the Extraordinary and Ordinary Forms of the Latin Rite liturgy, concelebration, and other liturgical matters; and the Vatican's financial reports. Listen to the show: Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today's guest(s): Gregory Tracy, managing editor of the Pilot, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston, and Fr. Roger Landry, pastor of St. Bernadette Parish in Fall River Links from today's show: Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot's and The Anchor's websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today's topics: Suicide on the ballot; Chinese bishop excommunicated; restoring tradition 1st segment: Scot Landry welcomed Susan Abbott to the show and noted that the usual Thursday panel is together again. Susan said her office has been planning for the new religious education year and meeting with parish staff on their concerns, including preparing for the Year of Faith. Scot welcomed Fr. Roger Landry, who is traveling in Michigan and doing a retreat for the Alma sisters, and Gregory Tracy. Scot noted that the Pilot is still on hiatus this week. Scot said this week that Secretary of State Bill Galvin has certified the ballot initiatives that will be on the ballot this November and Question 2 will be the physician-assisted suicide proposal. Scot said he will be voting No. Scot said he was disappointed by the the Secretary of State's office used the pro-assisted suicide language of aid in dying, instead of assisted suicide. Susan said the language will make a difference; words are important. Susan said this is a matter of choosing death over life. End of life care is not easy, not pretty, but it's a blessing and a privilege. Scot said we're now in the final phase of this effort. These four months will have a lot of messaging and will be competing with a lot of over election matters. Greg said he hopes that the message isn't lost. People could easily be misled about the exct intentions and purposes of this law, just like during the original signature petition in which people said they were misled about what they were endorsing. A misleading soundbite about a false compassion might be enough to convince people. He doesn't think people would make a deliberate choice for this ballot initiative because of how badly written it is with loopholes and lack of safeguards. Susan said she's surprised that even proponents are in favor of such a badly written law. Scot asked if having legalizing medical marijuana on the same ballot will have an impact. Fr. Roger said most people who care for others will recognize that marijuana is a gateway drug. He said it will be emphasized as personal rights or caring for others. Real compassion is helping people talk themselves down from the psychological rooftop and show that life still has meaning. Scot said he thinks it will be the one on one conversations people have about this in the next four months. He said there is a poll on the on this issue. Susan noted how people she knows haven't heard about this initiative. Scot said 90% of the people who are going to vote don't know the arguments on both sides of this issue and he thinks people can be persuaded by the Church's arguments. Greg talked about reports that it is very easy to get doctor's permission for medical marijuana in California, undermining the law. He said both issues are means of fleeing reality. Scot noted that we don't have to make theological arguments on these issues. Fr. Roger said reason tells us that these things are wrong. Opposition to suicide is commonsense and has been recognized as contrary to the common good throughout history. In the ancient world, suicide was usually offered as a means to avoid execution. He said we're all called to be Good Samaritans, like the firefighter who climbs out on a ledge to save a suicidal person. 2nd segment: This week's benefactor card raffle winner is John and Ann Murphy from Merrimac, MA They win a "Praying for Our Priests" 3 pack: The book , an audio CD of the Stations of the Cross and Divine Mercy chaplet, and an audio CD of the Rosary with meditations on the priesthood. If you would like to be eligible to win in an upcoming week, please visit . For a one-time $30 donation, you'll receive the Station of the Cross benefactor card and key tag, making you eligible for WQOM's weekly raffle of books, DVDs, CDs and religious items. We'll be announcing the winner each Wednesday during “The Good Catholic Life” program. 3rd segment: One of the bigger stories this week is the situation in China when the Holy See determined a Chinese bishop was illicitly ordained was excommunicated. Scot asked Fr. Roger to explain. Fr. Roger said a valid ordination means the man has been made a bishop. For that to occur an ordained bishop has to ordain a valid priest. Licit is a way of saying legal according to canon law. So there can be a valid ordination, but you don't have the permission to make this man a bishop. For example, if Cardinal Seán ordained Fr. Roger a bishop without permission of Pope Benedict. Fr. Roger would validly be a bishop, would be illicitly ordained and would be excommunicated. That's what happened in China. The Chinese government wanted the priest to be a bishop, but the Vatican did not want it. So the man is now a bishop, but is totally outside of communion with the Church. Scot asked why the bishop doing the ordination wasn't excommunicated. Fr. Roger said it was probably because the Chinese government threatened the ordaining bishop and the Vatican must have heard about this. That's what happened when Archbishop Marcel Lefebrve ordained men as bishops in 1988. Pope Benedict XVI lifted that excommunication a couple of years ago. Scot said it goes to show that religious liberty something we need to pray for everyday. The Communist Chinese government requires Christians to worship only in state-controlled associations, including the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which eschews any connections to the Vatican or the Pope. Many Catholics worship in illegal, underground churches, following only bishops appointed by the Pope, although the divisions are not hard and fast. Many priests and laypeople, and even bishops, are members of the patriotic association in public, and of the underground Church, in secret. Susan said there was another Chinese bishop who renounced his participation in the Patriotic Association was arrested by the government Scot said the next story is about Cardinal Raymond Burke, a leading American voice in the Vatican today, marked the five-year anniversary of the lifting of the restrictions on the celebration of the Extraordinary Form of the Latin Rite. Greg said it adds to richness of the liturgy to have both forms of the Mass celebrated today. The liturgy is living and vibrant and not to be tampered with, even as the Church responds to the needs of the time. Scot said Cardinal Burke talked about resistance to the older form, elements of the older form that could be brought to the new, and parts of the new form that improve upon the old form. The reform of the Roman Missal in the period following Vatican II was “too radical,” and “went beyond, and in some senses perhaps not completely coherently with, what the council fathers had set forth,” the cardinal says. “There was a stripping away, a changing of the form of the rite that in my judgment was too much,” he says. “You can't take a living reality, the worship of God as God has desired that we worship him, and tamper with it without doing violence and without in some way damaging the faith life of the people.” Fr. Roger said there are a lot of private prayers for the priest in the older form that have been cut from the present missal. He'd love to see those come back because it helps priests to pray the Mass better. He does agree there was a lot that could have been cut from the old missal. What he appreciates most in the new form, he loves the way we begin Mass now with the New Testament greetings, the Kyrie, and the readings. In addition to being in the language of the people, the lectionary is a lot larger. There were lots of the Old and New Testament that you never heard. Both Masses help us to pray the other better. Cardinal Burke also spoke in a separate article in Catholic News Agency that there's an excessive use of concelebration, the practice of priests saying Mass collectively. His primary concern was that when a priest gets in the habit of primarily concelebrating, it can develop a sense in the priest of just being part of the congregation. Susan said she was surprised by this concern. Susan said he also outlined why a priest should not ad-lib prayers during Mass. She was surprised that this apparently happens enough to be remarked upon. In a wide-ranging interview, Cardinal Burke also outlined the reasons why a priest should not ad-lib his own words or prayers during Mass, since he “is the servant of the rite” and “not the protagonist – Christ is.” “So it is absolutely wrong for the priest to think, ‘how can I make this more interesting?' or ‘how can I make this better?'” he said. They discuss the recent case of a priest in Illinois stripped of his faculties for this reason. Susan asked Fr. Roger why Cardinal Burke would be speaking on liturgy since the cardinal's role at the Vatican is as Apostolic Signatura, which is like a judge. Fr. Roger said all cardinals serve on various of the Vatican's congregations and Cardinal Burke is a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship. Fr. Roger said Pope Benedict said a few years ago that he was disturbed by the large-scale concelebrations of thousands of priests at certain events. For a priest to validly concelebrate the Mass, he has to be able to consume the precious blood. So how much must be consecrated so everyone has some, without having lot leftover. Fr. Roger said young priests in some situations outside of parishes don't get a chance to celebrate the Mass on their own and are forced to concelebrate, like at the Pontifical North American College. Another big story was that the Holy See's budget showed a loss this year. Greg said people have this idea that the Vatican is just full of gold and money. But when you see the numbers related to a worldwide organization of 1 billion people it's not that much. Scot compared the budget for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the Holy See and Vatican City State: $35 billion to $500 million.

Today's host(s): Scot Landry and Susan Abbott Today's guest(s): Antonio Enrique, editor of The Pilot, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston; and Fr. Roger Landry, executive editor of The Anchor, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Fall River Some of the stories discussed on this show will be available on The Pilot's and The Anchor's websites on Friday morning. Please check those sites for the latest links. Today's topics: New nuncio for US; Year of Faith; human trafficking; IntegrityRestored.com Summary of today's show: Antonio Enrique from The Pilot and Fr. Roger Landry from The Anchor join Scot and Susan to discuss the news of the week, including the appointment of a new papal nuncio to the US, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, known for management skills in the Vatican City-State; the announcement of a Year of Faith by Pope Benedict; the Mass. bishops asking the state Legislature to take action on a human trafficking bill; the Obama administration revoking a contract with the US bishops' migrant services agency to provide care for trafficking victims because they won't promote contraception and abortion; a new website that helps Catholic men who are addicted to pornography; and Cardinal Sean joining the circus… for a day. 1st segment: Scot welcomes Susan back the show. He asked her about the confirmation preparation training program, which has been taking place in many locations across the archdiocese. The focus of the workshops was revisiting the theology of confirmation and how do parish confirmation programs for teens align with it. It included a presentation by Fr. Jonathan Gaspar, co-director of the Office for Worship and Spiritual Life, on the theology of confirmation. Scot and Susan discussed their hope that confirmation will be more than just a graduation from religious education or graduation from going to church. Susan said she also met with members of the Brazilian community religious education community at the initiative of Fr. Michael Harrington of the Office for Cultural Diversity. They assessed the needs of the fast-growing community and discussed their future needs. Scot said he's heard there are as many Portuguese-speaking Catholics in the Archdiocese as there are Spanish speakers. 2nd segment: Scot welcomed Antonio and Fr. Roger to the show. He asked Antonio about the appointment of Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano as the new nuncio to the US. Antonio said Vigano was previously the secretary-general of the Vatican City Governorate. Scot asked his sense from his friends in Rome on he appointment. Fr. Roger said Americans will like his management style because he brought many American management best practices to the Vatican, which was controversial in Rome. It streamlined operations and saved 25% on the cost of running the Vatican without cutting any budgets, in part by cutting out “friend-of-a-friend” contracts and deals with vendors to the Vatican. Fr. Roger wondered what criteria Vigano will be favoring in his recommendations on new bishops for the US, whether it will be management ability or more pastoral sensibilities or more likely some combination of both. Scot and Susan discussed the role of the nuncio as the papal representative to both the Church in the US, but also to the government of the US. Scot and Antonio discussed that Vigano said he has big shoes to fill in replacing Archbishop Sambi who died in the middle of the summer. They agreed that in this case it is true as Sambi was much loved in the US. Antonio knew Sambi over many years, back to when Sambi was the Pope's representative in the Holy Land, a very difficult role. He was very down to earth, very cordial, and had a strong sense of humor. Scot said Pope Benedict declared a Year of Faith to begin October 11, 2012 through the Feast of Christ the King in November of the next year. Fr. Roger said the Pope chose the Year of Faith to begin during a Synod of Bishops in Rome next October on the topic of the New Evangelization. In order to pass on the faith, we need to know it and love and Pope Benedict knows most of us in the faith need a brush-up on our faith. October 11, 2012 is the 50th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council and the Feast of Christ the King is the end of the liturgical year, which focuses us on eternity. Scot said both Pope Benedict and Pope John Paul II have dedicated their papacies to the correct implementation of Vatican II. Susan said until there is another ecumenical council in the Church we will continue to revisit and focus on this council, the most recent. Susan asked Fr. Roger if he thinks that the apostolic letter Porta Fidei (“Gate of Faith”) is the third in the Pope's series so far of the two encyclicals on Hope and Love. Fr. Roger said we can expect before the end of the year a teaching from the Pope that will help us prepare for this year of faith. Scot asked Antonio what it says that the Pope is basing some of his hopes for the Church on the work of the new evangelical and missionary lay movements in the Church. Antonio said the Church needs to adapt in every generation to the needs of the people. John Paul II saw in these new movements the role of being able to bring the Good News to this new world we live in that doesn't take for granted the truths of the faith. When you have a Christian culture, you can assume that people understand the context of faith. But when the culture becomes post-Christian, people need a more fundamental experience of their faith and the new movements help people witness the faith and have a personal experience of the faith through the members of the movements. They can show how lives can change through the experience of the faith. Scot asked Fr. Roger about all the themed Years we've been seeing over the past decade or so: Year of the Rosary, Year for Priests, Year of St. Paul, etc. Fr. Roger said Pope John Paul brought this custom from his native Poland where the Church often focused on a particular topic. Pope Benedict continued that tradition. Fr. Roger wishes we had a special theme every year, even on the diocesan level. He said Pope Benedict is seeing across the world where people are taking for granted what they think they know about the faith based on a few teachings from the Catechism. But we need a deeper relationship with Christ to ground that faith and bring us deeper. 3rd segment: Scot said the Mass. bishops just urged the passage of antihuman trafficking legislation in Massachusetts. Antonio said both the Mass. House and Senate passed two separate bills on this issue. Trafficking is a tremendous problem for people who are often not free to make their own choices, including young people caught up in gangs, women in prostitutions, and illegal immigrants who end up as virtual slaves. The bills were passed in June and the bishops are urging that the work on the bills be completed in this session and not forgotten. Scot read from the bishops' letter, including a request to make sure criminal penalties are imposed. Sen. Mark Montigny, chair of the committee that dealt with the bill, welcomed the bishops' statement. Susan said the Sisters of St. Joseph in Boston have been working with this issue of human trafficking and have a lot of information on the topic on their Scot suggested that people could call their state senator and state representative to have them push this bill forward. In related news out of Washington, DC, an agency of the US Catholic bishops was denied further federal grants to help trafficking victims because the Obama administration said they weren't promoting abortion and contraception to the women they were helping. The Migrant and Refugee Services agency has been on the forefront of the work to help victims of trafficking, but now that contract has gone to companies that weren't even qualified to engage in this work. Fr. Roger said this shows how the Obama administration militantly pushes abortion and contraception even when doing so hurts the people that are supposed to be helped. Scot said it shows how when a pro-abortion administration comes into office in the US that the abortion ideology becomes so fundamental to policy. He said this is bullying against pro-lifers. This administration doesn't allow people of faith to do their service to society in ways that are compatible with their faith. Antonio said Catholics need to make their voices hear. Scot said this happened because of a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union in 2009 saying this failure to force Catholics to support abortion was a violation of the separation of church and state. Susan said this prejudice is outrageous, especially when we are working so well for the solution of the problem that is supposed to be addressed, the care of victims of trafficking. Anotnio noted that the US bishops have created an office to monitor the issue of religious freedom in the US. There seems to be an unwritten rule in the Obama administration: ABC, Anyone but Catholics. Scot said we talk about this now because it's the infancy of an oppressive secularist attitude in this country. He recalled the haunting poem from Nazi Germany: First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me. Susan added the quote from Edmund Burke, “All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing.” 4th segment: In the Anchor this week is an article on the website IntegrityRestored.com, which helps people who have porn addiction. Fr. Roger said porn addiction affects so many people, including men, women, and young people. It's one of the most difficult addictions from which to be freed. Psychologists said it's much more addictive than even what happens with cocaine. Fr. Roger said it's not often talked about in the Church. We need to talk about not just the harm it causes, but also the resources available to help people. He showed a video in his parish that showed how it causes harm to marriages and other relationships. He said this new websites is by Dr. Peter Kliponis, who was one of the US bishops' experts on this topic for helping people with this addiction. Fr. Roger said when he found out about this website he wanted to promote it. The website has many eye-popping statistics on this website: There are 4.2 million pornographic websites There are 420 million pornographic web pages There are 68 million daily pornographic search engine requests – Google, 25% of all search engine requests There are 4.5 billion average daily pornographic emails There are 100,000 child porn websites worldwide Men admitting to accessing pornography at work: 20% U.S. adults who regularly visit Internet pornography websites: 40 million Christians who said pornography is a major problem in the home: 47% Adults admitting to Internet pornography addiction: 10% Scot said he's also seen a statistic that 70% of male college students view pornography at least weekly. How does that affect how they view women on campus? What are colleges doing to stop it? This new website offers great tools for overcoming this addiction. Susan said she was shocked to see that the largest population of Internet pornography users are 12-17 year olds. How does this affect the formation of their view of women throughout the rest of their life? Scot said it makes him wonder how these boys will look at his own daughter. Antonio noted the perniciousness of Internet porn because you don't have to go outside the home to find it. He said he teaches his own children about modesty and chastity and treating others with dignity. The only way to really solve this is person to person, one at a time, in families. He noted that porn destroys the ability to relate to another person. It is most prevalent in the years when young people are supposed to be learning how to relate to others, preparing for marriage and family life. In the Anchor article, Pope John Paul is quoted as saying that the opposite of love isn't hate, but objectifying someone else, treating them as an object. Kliponis said there is hope for healing and recovery. It isn't easy, but it happens. Scot ran quickly through local stories, including a $1.2 million gift from the Mosakowski Family Foundation to support Catholic schools on the North Shore. He also noted a Pilot story about Cardinal Sean visiting the Ringling Bros. circus in Boston. Susan said the are fantastic. The national chaplain for circus folk is Fr. Gerry Hogan, a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston. There is also a continuation of the series from Project Rachel, and the appointment of a new pastor of St. Therese parish in Billerica. Fr. Roger pointed out in the Anchor an article about parishes preparing for the first Feast Day of Blessed John Paul II on Saturday. Antonio pointed out the ongoing series about the bishops of Boston, with its second installment this week.