Reforming the Catholic Church with Vatican II

During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese VietCong guerrillas built a vast network of tunnels in the south of the country as part of the insurgency against the South Vietnamese government and their American allies. The tunnel network was a key base and shelter for the North Vietna ...  Show more

In November 2015, the 'holy grail' of shipwrecks, laden with treasure worth an estimated $18 billion, was found off the coast of Colombia.The San José, a Spanish galleon, sank in 1708, when a British warship intercepted it. Rachel Naylor speaks to former Colombian President Juan ...  Show more

In January 1959 Pope John XXIII announced a council of all the world's Catholic bishops and cardinals in Rome. It led to sweeping reforms. Plus Carmen Callil recalls setting up Virago, the most successful feminist publishing house to date; India gives birth to the call centres ...

Dr. Scott Hahn and Rob Corzine discuss the interpretation of the Second Vatican Council by many who misunderstand it as a "Liberal Council." In a thought-provoking discussion on the 60th anniversary of Lumen Gentium, a significant document from the Second Vatican Council, the ...

Tensions emerged during this weeks' national Plenary Council as bishops overruled the people's votes. At one point the bishops rejected women-in-leadership motions, including ordination to diaconate. Women's leadership was only one contentious issue. A special program recorded at ...  Show more

‘The Church​ needs to change; the Church cannot afford to change,’ Colm Tóibín wrote recently in the LRB. In this episode of the podcast, he joins Tom to discuss how the new pope will have to navigate this paradox. He also looks back at the Francis papacy, and the way that Franci ...  Show more