How to choose a pope

What do we really know about Adolf Hitler’s death? In this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast, historian and author Caroline Sharples tells Charlotte Vosper about the reporting that surrounded Hitler's final days in April 1945, the subsequent discoveries of biological evidence, ...  Show more

For those who lived through it, the Black Death left a legacy of fear, loss and uncertainty. But how did people cope with such overwhelming catastrophe? And what do contemporary records reveal about the disease’s emotional impact? In this second episode of our three-part Sunday S ...  Show more

Sex, scandal and ... the Sacraments? Renaissance Rome wasn't for the faint hearted. And the Vatican? For some that was the source of the drama.In this episode, Kate is joined by Catherine Fletcher to meet one of the Vatican's randiest residents - Pope Alexander VI. From saucy par ...  Show more

It has been 10 years since Pope Benedict XVI announced his shock resignation. It was the first time in almost 600 years that a pope had stepped down.

In this programme, we hear stories about the history of the papacy, including how a pope is chosen, the inception of Vati ...

In April 2005, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became Pope Benedict XVI following the death of Pope John Paul II.The new leader of the Catholic Church was elected after four ballots of the papal conclave. The late Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor was one of 115 cardinals who took part.H ...  Show more

Pope Pius XII, the man who led the Church through WWII, has been maligned by history as the Pope that could have stood against Hitler, but remained silent. Recent archival revelations, however, tell a different story. What is the truth? How did he respond to the Nazi threat? And ...  Show more