Popes

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. We hear how a speech by Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, in 1972, caused a break down in relations with the USA. Our guest is an expert in the historic relations between Swede ...  Show more

We begin with the trial of the former President of Liberia, Charles Taylor. It was claimed that he traded in arms and ammunition in return for so-called blood diamonds.Our guest, gemmologist James Evans discusses the creation of synthetic diamonds.Next we head to Syria where a gr ...  Show more

Pope Francis passed away at the age of eighty-eight on Easter Monday. He was the first pope from Latin America, the first Jesuit pope, and the first pope to take the name "Francis," after St. Francis of Assisi. What stood out in his twelve-year pontificate? How does his papacy ...

White smoke from the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City on Thursday 8th May announced that a new Pope had been elected. Pope Leo XIV is the 267th Pope to be exact and the first American. He also has Peruvian citizenship.In this episode we’re going to explain what we know about the ne ...  Show more

There's a new pope, and he's made in America. Celebrate the election of Chicago's Pope Leo XIV with a look back at The Daily Show's papal past.  Jon Stewart breaks down all the news following the death of Pope John Paul II with help from Ed Helms. Jon discovers the Pope has a Tw ...  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