Vatican Insider

This week in the interview segment I feature two amazing men, two friends, Craig Johring and Danny Leger, who are truly doing the Lord’s work of caring for the least of our brethren through HOPE OF THE POOR, an amazing organization they co-founded in Nebraska with headquarters in Mexico City and Omaha. The motto is “Alleviating the poverty of being unloved” and you will hear them tell absolutely riveting tales of the poorest of the poor whom they try to help in many ways, especially by giving them a sense of their worth and dignity. I spoke to Craig last year on Vatican Insider and Danny joined him on this visit to Rome and in this interview for VI. They speak of their work in Mexico and the U.S. and then share with us why the exciting reasons why they were in Rome.

Join me on “Vatican Insider” as we approach the final stretch of the shortest month of the year, even though 2024 is a leap year and we will have a February 29. This weekend also marks the return of the Pope and Roman Curia officials to work after a retreat that began Sunday afternoon. Papal and curia retreats have their own history and that is what I will look at in a Special I have prepared for what is normally the interview segment. I hope you enjoy that after the news segment and a Q&A on fasting and abstinence rule for Catholics during Lent.

You must tune in this weekend to listen to my two special guests in the interview segment as they talk of their call to the priesthood – what they feel, what they expect but most importantly, the very joy they feel at the mere idea of being a priest! My guests are two remarkable young men, seminarians at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, Nicholas Monnin and Patrick Ernst, both of the diocese of Fort Wayne -South Bend. We met during the October 2023 synod on synodality when I invited to dinner Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne, Patrick and Nicholas and two Fort Wayne priests studying at NAC, Fathers Zane Langenbrunner and Samuel Anderson. Patrick and Nicholas will enthral you with their vocation stories and you’ll have a very positive feeling about the future of the Church! The logical conclusion to a great conversation was to continue talking over dinner at La Vittoria!|

You must tune in this weekend to listen to my two special guests in the interview segment as they talk of their call to the priesthood – what they feel, what they expect but most importantly, the very joy they feel at the mere idea of being a priest! My guests are two remarkable young men, seminarians at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, Nicholas Monnin and Patrick Ernst, both of the diocese of Fort Wayne -South Bend. We met during the October 2023 synod on synodality when I invited to dinner Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne, Patrick and Nicholas and two Fort Wayne priests studying at NAC, Fathers Zane Langenbrunner and Samuel Anderson. Patrick and Nicholas will enthral you with their vocation stories and you’ll have a very positive feeling about the future of the Church! The logical conclusion to a great conversation was to continue talking over dinner at La Vittoria!|

Join me this weekend for the interview segment of “Vatican Insider “for Part II of my conversation with Msgr. Terence Hogan, Coordinator of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums. As you heard last weekend in Part I, he is a wonderful story teller! This week we learn even more about the Patrons – the Chapters around the world, various restorations projects – tapestries, wood, mosaic, painting, sculpture, etc. and some little known secrets about restoration.

My special guest in VI’s interview segment this week is Msgr. Terence Hogan, Coordinator of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums. He is a wonderful story teller and we learn about the Patrons’ history, the Chapters around the world, various restorations projects – tapestries, wood, mosaic, painting, sculpture, etc. and some little known secrets about restoration. You’ll also learn how to become a patron of the arts in the Vatican Museums and the benefits of membership in the Patrons.

Tune in this weekend to Vatican Insider not only for a Vatican news roundup but to listen to a Special I have prepared in lieu of an interview! For many in Italy – institutions, churches, businesses and families – the Christmas season lasts up to and including the February 2 feast of the Presentation. For decades under Popes John Paul and Benedict XVI, the Christmas tree and nativity scene stayed up in St. Peter’s Square until that date, as did many of the presepe in various Vatican offices, in the Paul VI Hall and places like the Vatican post office, bringing the Christmas spirit of joy to countless people. So, in that prolonged Christmas season and spirit of joy, this week I bring you a special on some extraordinary nativity scenes that you can actually see all year round in Italy. Gather the children around, the young and young at heart, as you listen to this special.

As I wrote last week, I was a member of the Historical Commission for the Cause of Canonization of Servant of God Joseph Dutton who, as you know, worked for 44 years on Molokai with Saints Damien and Marianne caring for the victims of leprosy. When such a commission closes its work, a meeting must be held in the diocese of the cause for canonization with all members present. This is required by the dicastery for the causes of saints to which we our individual reports are sent. Thus, two other members of that commission, Pat Boland of Honolulu and Fr. John Paul Kimes, Canon law professor at the university of Notre Dame, and I met in Honolulu this past December to present our findings and work with Msgr. Robert Sarno, an advisor on the cause. One copy of the findings remain in the diocese of Honolulu and two are sent to Rome for further work by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. Though now retired, when he was on the staff of the dicastery (then the Congregation for Saints) in Rome, Msgr. Sarno also help

I was a member of the Historical Commission for the Cause of Canonization of Servant of God Joseph Dutton who, as you know, worked for 44 years on Molokai with Saints Damien and Marianne caring for the victims of leprosy. When such a commission closes its work, a meeting must be held in the diocese of the cause for canonization with all members present. This is required by the dicastery for the causes of saints to which we our individual reports are sent. Thus. two other members of that commission, Pat Boland of Honolulu and Fr.. John Paul Kimes, Canon law professor at the university of Notre Dame, and I met in Honolulu this past December to present our findings and work with Msgr. Robert Sarno, an advisor on the cause. One copy of the findings remain in the diocese of Honolulu and two are sent to Rome for further work by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. Though now retired, when he was on the staff of the dicastery (then the Congregation for Saints) in Rome, Msgr. Sarno also helped with the causes of

Welcome to Vatican Insider on this Christmas season weekend. Yes, we are still within the twelve days of Christmas! I have a special gift to you this weekend in the interview segment. I will read Pope St. John Paul’s beautiful and compelling 1994 Christmas Letter to Children – still a gift for the young and young at heart all these many years later!

Joan has prepared a Special this weekend for the interview segment of Vatican Insider and offer you a journey to the Vatican and the Eternal City of Rome to experience the traditions celebrated for Christmas and the New Year.

Join me this weekend on Vatican Insider for my off-the-cuff interview with Fr. John Paul Kimes, Canon law professor at the university of Notre Dame and member of the Historical Commission for the cause of canonization of Servant of God Joseph Dutton. Dutton, a layman was companion, caregiver and friend for 44 years, alongside Sts. Damien and Marianne Cope, to the victims of leprosy on Kalaupapa, a peninsula of the Hawaiian island of Molokai.

Welcome to a new edition of Vatican Insider, the last weekend before I depart for Honolulu. I am on the Historical Commission for the Cause of Canonization of Servant of God Joseph Dutton who, as you know, worked for 44 years on Molokai with Saints Damien and Marianne caring for the victims of leprosy. When such a commission closes its work, a meeting must be held in the diocese of the cause for canonization with all members present. This is required by the dicastery for the causes of saints to which we will send our report. Thus, for the next two weekends, my colleagues are preparing a ‘BEST of” Vatican Insider. The weekend of December 16, in fact, we will re-air a riveting interview done in Hawaii with another member of that commission, Fr. John Paul Kimes, a professor at Notre Dame university. Not to be missed! This weekend, on the other hand, in the interview segment I feature a talk with Craig Johring, co- founder of Hope of the Poor, an amazing organization founded in America with headquarters in Mexi

My guest this week in the interview is Paulist Fr. Matt Berrios. The Paulist Fathers have been in Rome 99 years, administering to the Catholic American community and other English-language Catholic residents or visitors. We now have two Paulist priests at St. Patrick’s – Fathers Steve Petroff, the rector and Joe Ciccone, vice rector – but a third Paulist is here, Fr. Matt. Ordained at the Paulist-run church of St. Paul the Apostle, in New York City on May 20, 2017, Fr. Matt served there as associate pastor until July 2020 when he moved to Rome to pursue advanced studies at the Pontifical Oriental Institute.

My guest this week is the interview segment of “Vatican Insider” is Jesuit Fr. Dominik Markl of the Pontifical Biblical Institute at Rome’s Gregorian University, He’s also Professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament studies at Innsbruck University, Austria. We met to talk about some astonishing documentation rediscovered in the archives of the Biblical Institute, documentation that basically consists of lists of refugees given shelter from the Nazi persecution by Catholic Institutions in Rome. Our focus was the collaboration over the years between Catholic and Jewish institutions in this research. So stay tuned for that conversation after the News and a Q&A!

Fr. Sirico is a prolific author, sought-after speaker and a good friend, and this week we talk about the late Cardinal George Pell and the synod on synodality as presented in Father’s just-released book “Pell Contra Mundum.” Contra Mundum is an expression that describes a person with a steadfast commitment to one’s values and the courage to go against the prevailing norms or majority consensus. An eye-opening conversation. The book is in 4 languages and eminently readable. In addition to what Fr. Sirico writes and the selected pieces by Cardinal Pell, there are contributions by Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai, Danny Casey, who worked alongside Cardinal Pell as director of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Economy, and George Weigel.

I’m sure that curious title got you wondering what this week’s interview is about! You will not want to miss my guest in the interview segment of Vatican Insider this weekend – Fr, Robert Sirico, co-founder and president emeritus of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty. Fr. Sirico is a prolific author, sought-after speaker and a good friend, and this week we talk about the late Cardinal George Pell and the synod on synodality as presented in Father’s just-released book “Pell Contra Mundum.” Contra Mundum is an expression that describes a person with a steadfast commitment to one’s values and the courage to go against the prevailing norms or majority consensus. An eye-opening conversation. The book is in 4 languages and eminently readable. In addition to what Fr. Sirico writes and the selected pieces by Cardinal Pell, there are contributions by Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Mumbai, Danny Casey, who worked alongside Cardinal Pell as director of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Ec

Welcome to a new edition of Vatican Insider on this third weekend of October. The Synod on Synodality continues but is, to the relief of probably all participants, nearing its end on October 29. I have been posting daily updates on the synod on Joan’s Rome, and the Vatican news website has been offering some of the speeches given by participants in the synod. Again this week I focus on the synod in the interview segment where my guest is Fr. Gerald Murray, pastor at Holy Family Church in NY, prolific writer and noted Canon lawyer. He was in Rome to give a talk on the synod and to cover it as well. In Part I last weekend and Part II this weekend, Father talks about the serious concerns he has about the synod process, especially from the point of view of Canon law. This week especially, he also focuses on the Instrumentum laboris, the working document that guides both the preparation of a synod and its actual work.

Welcome to a new edition of Vatican Insider as we end the first full week of work at the synod on synodality in the Vatican. I have been posting daily updates on the synod on Joan’s Rome, and the Vatican news website has been offering some of the speeches given by participants in the synod. I focus on the synod in the interview segment where my guest is Fr. Gerald Murray, pastor at Holy Family Church in NY, prolific writer and noted Canon lawyer. He was in Rome to give a talk on the synod and to cover it as well. He tells us of the serious concerns he has about the synod process, especially from the point of view of Canon law, and about the working document that guides both the preparation of a synod and its actual work. We look at what is being described as “the new synodal church”. (photo from LinkedIn) You will find our conversation both riveting and very informative. If you had questions about the synod, they very well may have been answered by Father Murray who, by the way, will be back with more next

Join Joan Lewis for Part 2 of her interview with Fr. Bill Petrie on Saint Mother Theresa.