RECENT COLUMNS
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Podcasts
PODCAST: Art, Catholicism, and American Culture
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
Poet James Matthew Wilson joins Robert Royal to discuss his latest book of poetry St. Thomas and the Forbidden Birds and the need for Catholic writers and artists to help create a healthier culture, more open to the transcendent and authentic human existence.
PODCAST: Should Fiducia Supplicans be Retracted?
Monday, March 11, 2024
Fr. Gerald Murray and Diane Montagna join Robert Royal to discuss their recent interview in First Things about the highly controversial Declaration from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith that encourages the blessing of same-sex “couples” and others in “irregular unions.”
PODCAST: Cardinal Burke’s Novena for the Church and America
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Robert Royal talks with Cardinal Raymond Burke about his hopes for the nine-month Novena “Return to Our Lady,” which he is organizing and will begin in March. Interested people can register at: novena.cardinalburke.com. The Cardinal will be sending out a monthly email to everyone enrolled with a meditation and prayer suggestions.
PODCAST: Jerome’s Tears, ancient wisdom for Lent (with David Bonagura)
Monday, February 26, 2024
TCT regular contributor David Bonagura discusses his translation of seven letters by the great Biblical scholar St. Jerome addressed to those experiencing suffering, illness, or the death of family or friends — helpful wisdom for every age.
PODCAST: Rediscovering Catholic Education (with Patrick Reilly)
Friday, February 2, 2024
As Catholic Education Week comes to a close, Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society, talks with Robert Royal about the many initiatives underway to preserve, restore, and develop authentic Catholic education at every level — and CNS’ work over 30 years in identifying and fostering such efforts.
PODCAST: Cardinal Fernandez’s Sexual Fixations (with Michael Pakaluk)
Friday, January 19, 2024
Philosopher Michael Pakaluk joins TCT’s Robert Royal in a conversation about the controversial sexually lurid book by Cardinal Fernandez, the head of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith, which has been rediscovered in recent days. Professor Pakaluk has also uncovered other essays by the Argentinian along similar lines, which he says indicate a kind of sexual idee fixe.
PODCAST: Theology Upside Down (with Larry Chapp)
Monday, January 15, 2024
Theologian Larry Chapp joins TCT’s Robert Royal to discuss how “theology from below” is leading to controversial steps like blessing same-sex couples, dialogue with Marxists, and listening first to people rather than God.
PODCAST: A Catholic Project Making a Difference (with Stephen White)
Friday, January 5, 2024
Stephen P. White, a regular contributor to The Catholic Thing, and the Executive Director of The Catholic Project at the Catholic University of America, talks with Robert Royal about the Project’s revealing studies of American bishops and priests, and hopeful signs about the Church in America.
PODCAST: 2023: The Fiducia Fiasco, Synodality, Fr Rupnik, and more
Friday, December 29, 2023
Don’t miss this candid, lively, and extended conversation with Fr. Gerald Murray, Diane Montagna, Edward Pentin, and TCT Editor-in-chief Robert Royal on the recent Vatican document on blessing same-sex “couples” (and the sharp reaction to it around the world), the year of synodality, the cases of Cardinal Burke, Fr. Rupnik, and Cardinal Becciu, Christian persecution, and prospects for the Church in 2024.
PODCAST: Will the Church now bless same-sex ‘couples’? (With Fr. Gerald Murray)
Monday, December 18, 2023
Robert Royal and Fr. Gerald Murray discuss a new document — Fiducia supplicans — that came out today from the Dicastery on the Doctrine of the Faith, and approved by Pope Francis, that seeks to “broaden” and “enrich” the concept of “blessing” in the Church. This innovation, its seems, will even permit blessings for “same-sex couples” — just as long as they don’t give the impression of being the equivalent of traditional marriage.
PODCAST: An American Pilgrimage (With Thomas and Susan Egan)
Tuesday, December 5, 2023
PODCAST: The Catholic Heart of St. John Henry Newman
Tuesday, November 28, 2023
TCT Senior Editor Brad Miner and Robert Royal discuss the importance of St. John Henry Newman in his time and ours, especially how some of his key subjects — development of doctrine, authority, and the history of the Faith — are very much in play during this period of “synodality.”
PODCAST: Understanding the U.S. Bishops’ Recent Meeting (with Francis X. Maier)
Monday, November 20, 2023
The American bishops were in Baltimore last week for their annual Fall meeting amidst controversies over synodality, relations with Rome, and much more. Francis X. Maier and Robert Royal discuss some of the major issues and what they’re likely to mean for the Church in America in the coming year.
PODCAST: Strickland Out, Trans Baptism In? (with Fr. Gerald Murray)
Monday, November 13, 2023
Fr. Gerald Murray and Robert Royal discuss some of the latest developments in Rome on “trans” people and baptism, Bishop Strickland’s removal, the U.S. bishops’ meeting in Baltimore this week, and related subjects.
PODCAST: Are Big Changes Coming in Theology and How Popes are Elected? (with Fr. Gerald Murray)
Tuesday, November 7, 2023
Fr. Gerald Murray and Robert Royal discuss two issues that surfaced in Rome last week. First, Pope Francis published an Apostolic Letter calling for a “paradigm shift” in theology, meaning that Christian thought will largely take its cues from “context” rather than “abstract ideas.” Second, rumors are circulating that the Vatican is considering changes in how popes are elected, perhaps even including non-Cardinals and lay people.
PODCAST: A first look at the Synod’s final report (with Fr. Gerald Murray)
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
Fr. Gerald Murray and Robert Royal discuss the synodal document approved on Saturday in Rome, particularly the significance of the surprising removal of the term LGBT from the final version and the relatively strong opposition to suggestions of further study on women deaconesses.
PODCAST: Jimmy Lai: Catholic Hero and Confessor (with Fr. Robert Sirico)
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Father Robert Sirico and Robert Royal discuss “The Hong Konger,” a documentary film about Jimmy Lai, an imprisoned Catholic business man and media giant who has stood up to the encroachments of the Communist Chinese regime. No senior figure in the Vatican has said a word about his case.
PODCAST: As the Synod Begins to Conclude (with Fr. Gerald Murray)
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
Fr. Gerald Murray joins Robert Royal in today’s podcast to discuss some of the radical claims synod participants have recently made, their questioning even of the apostolic tradition, and what authority the novel form of synod now underway has – or does not have.
PODCAST: The Synod Lumbers towards a Conclusion (with Fr. Raymond de Souza)
Friday, October 20, 2023
Fr. Raymond de Souza and Robert Royal discuss how the Synod on Synodality is going to operate during its upcoming, final week — in terms of many unresolved questions and the hot-button issues that seem to be moving quietly along outside of public scrutiny.
PODCAST: Questions about Catholic Women (with Diane Montagna)
Tuesday, October 17, 2023
Diane Montagna discusses the public presentation of a woman religious in the Synod hall, which made a nonsensical claim about women’s liturgies in the early Church; and a statement by over 2200 Catholic women reaffirming the Church’s teaching about female roles, as well as the true dignity of women in Catholicism.
PODCAST: Vatican Info, Then and Now (with Joan Lewis)
Monday, October 16, 2023
Veteran Vaticanista Joan Lewis provides some historical context about how the Holy See has historically managed news and information at events like the current Synod, and how things are very different this time.
PODCAST: Cardinal Pell—The Synodal Dream as Toxic Nightmare (with Fr. Robert Sirico)
Friday, October 13, 2023
Fr. Robert Sirico and Robert Royal discuss a new book of essays by and about the late great Australian Cardinal Pell Contra Mundum, and his view of the synodal process as a “toxic nightmare” from which the Church must awake.
PODCAST: Past Failures and Future Tasks for the Church (with Larry Chapp)
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Theologian and director of a Catholic Worker farm Larry Chapp speaks with Robert Royal in Rome about how philosophers and theologians did not respond adequately to challenges before and after the Second Vatican Council — and how as a result, Catholic thinkers must now step up, in both theory and, especially, practice.
PODCAST: Synodal Manipulations, Ordinary and Extraordinary (with Edward Pentin)
Tuesday, October 10, 2023
Veteran Vatican journalist Edward Pentin joins Robert Royal to discuss how synods have changed since the beginning of the current pontificate, and how what is currently being said about the synod differs from what is being done.
PODCAST: Fear and Loathing in a Synod (with Francis X. Maier)
Monday, October 9, 2023
PODCAST: Is the Holy Spirit the “protagonist” at the Synod? (with Diane Montagna and Fr. Gerald E. Murray)
Saturday, October 7, 2023
PODCAST: The Synod Begins (with Fr. Gerald E. Murray)
Thursday, October 5, 2023
PODCAST: Preserving the future of the Church
Thursday, September 21, 2023
The Catholic Church has always been evolving – through the Apostolic tradition – to bring the message of Jesus Christ to a changing world. The great question faced by attendees at the Synod on Synodality is this: Will Catholicism remain faithful to the deposit of the Faith – to the Catechism and the Magisterium? That’s the challenge we’ll chronicle here at ‘The Vatican Thing.’
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