Vatican Access with Robert Duncan

From Rome, Vatican Access takes viewers inside the conversations, ideas, and decisions shaping today's Catholic Church.

Vatican Access with Robert Duncan is a religion podcast hosted by Catholic News Service, with 27 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Catholic News Service hosts Vatican Access with Robert Duncan, a religion show with 27 episodes published.

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  Vatican Access with Robert Duncan

  Why Did Lourdes Cover Up These Mosaics Before Pope Leo's Visit?

  Sep 25, 202632 min

  In the days before Pope Leo XIV’s apostolic visit to France, the famous mosaics at Lourdes by Father Marko Rupnik, a priest and artist accused of sexual abuse, have been covered up. Investigative journalist Federica Tourn, who published the first interview with one of Father Rupnik’s accusers in 2022, has followed the case closely ever since. In this conversation, Tourn explains why the mosaics were covered up ahead of the pope’s visit and what the decision means for the women who have accused Father Rupnik of abuse. What do victims want from Pope Leo? Why is Father Rupnik’s artwork being concealed in France while new mosaics are celebrated at a major shrine in Brazil? And why has the Vatican’s ongoing trial yet to produce a verdict? The discussion traces Father Rupnik’s rise to prominence in the Catholic Church, the allegations against him and the Church’s response. Tourn discusses her reporting on 22 letters alleging abuse dating back to the 1990s, the secrecy surrounding the Vatican proceedings and the sources who have helped her investigation. She also reflects on why survivors trusted her with their stories, the unanswered questions surrounding Father Rupnik’s considerable artistic earnings and what genuine transparency would mean for the Church. This episode features an AI-generated English dub of Federica Tourn’s voice. The transcript and translation were reviewed and edited by CNS staff. Original music was created using AI. Guest bio: Federica Tourn is an Italian investigative journalist who has spent years reporting on sexual abuse and alleged cover-ups in the Catholic Church, particularly in Italy. In December 2022, she published an interview with Gloria Branciani, one of the women accusing Father Marko Rupnik of sexual abuse, in the Italian newspaper Domani. She has continued investigating the case, speaking with survivors, clergy and Vatican sources, and reporting on the handling of abuse allegations within the Church.

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  Vatican Access with Robert Duncan

  Jesus Climbed These Stairs — She Helped the Vatican Revive Them

  Sep 18, 202628 min

  Mary Angela Schroth has spent more than 40 years working in the art world in Rome, much of that time at the Pontifical Sanctuary of the Holy Stairs. There, she helped launch and guide a decades-long effort with the Vatican Museums and international donors to restore the sanctuary’s extraordinary Renaissance frescoes -- images that had been obscured by centuries of dirt, pollution, candle smoke and neglect. In this conversation, Schroth tells the inside story of the Holy Stairs, traditionally believed to be the steps Jesus climbed before being judged by Pontius Pilate. How did they come to Rome? Why were the frescoes surrounding them nearly invisible for centuries? And what did it take to bring the sanctuary back to life? The discussion explores the origins of Christian Rome, the restoration campaign supported by the Getty Foundation and Vatican Museums, the discoveries made as the frescoes emerged again, and the donors who helped make the project possible. Schroth also reflects on how the work deepened her own Catholic faith, the extraordinary spiritual experiences pilgrims have reported at the Holy Stairs, and why the sanctuary’s central theme -- the suffering of Christ -- still speaks to the universal question of human suffering. Guest bio: Mary Angela Schroth is an American curator and arts administrator based in Rome. For more than four decades, she has worked with Sala Uno, the nonprofit contemporary art space she founded with priest and sculptor Tito Amodei at the complex of the Pontifical Sanctuary of the Holy Stairs. She played a central role in developing and supporting the long-term conservation of the sanctuary’s frescoes in collaboration with the Vatican Museums and international benefactors. Original music was created using AI; certain illustrations were enhanced using AI.

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  Vatican Access with Robert Duncan

  Why So Few Black Catholic Bishops in America?

  Sep 10, 202650 min

  Bishop Robert Boxie is an auxiliary bishop of Washington and the youngest bishop in the United States. A former lawyer educated at Vanderbilt University and Harvard Law School, he brings both professional experience and a deeply rooted Black Catholic identity to questions of race, faith, and the life of the Church. In this conversation, Bishop Boxie explains why he believes racism is part of the reason there are so few Black bishops in America. He discusses the history of exclusion faced by Black Catholics, his own experience with a Confederate flag in seminary, what white Catholics should understand about the Black Catholic experience, and why the Church needs to speak more openly about racism. He also addresses tokenism, DEI, reconciliation, and what Black Catholics bring to the wider Church. Guest bio: Bishop Robert P. Boxie III is an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Washington. Before entering the priesthood, he studied engineering at Vanderbilt University and law at Harvard Law School and worked in Washington, D.C. His ministry has included service to the Black Catholic community and pastoral work at Howard University. As bishop, he has spoken frequently about race, Catholic identity, reconciliation, and the importance of ensuring that Black Catholics are fully represented and heard within the life of the Church. Original music was created using AI. Special thanks to Tricia Lloyd and the Gregorian University Foundation for supplemental video footage.

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  Vatican Access with Robert Duncan

  Vatican Scholar: How to Train Your Mind to Spot AI Fakes

  Sep 4, 202631 min

  Steve Metzger works inside one of the most important libraries in the world: the Vatican Apostolic Library. A medievalist and Latinist, he studies and catalogs some of the Library’s extraordinary manuscript collections, including works by St. Thomas Aquinas. In this conversation, Metzger asks what happens when AI begins to replace the hard work of reading, thinking, and wrestling with ideas for ourselves. Why is reading a book fundamentally different from getting an instant answer from a machine? What do we lose when knowledge becomes easier, faster and increasingly artificial? The discussion explores Pope Leo XIV’s warnings about AI and education, the decline of serious reading, the danger of losing control of the technologies we create, and the Vatican Library’s mission in a digital age. Metzger also explains why the Library can be understood as an “anti-Babel” -- a place that gathers the languages, texts, and cultures of humanity and puts them back into conversation with one another. Guest bio: Steve Metzger is a researcher and manuscript cataloger at the Vatican Apostolic Library in Rome. A medievalist and Latinist, his work focuses on Latin manuscripts, textual transmission, humanism, and the preservation of the Church’s written heritage.

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  Vatican Access with Robert Duncan

  How Putin's War Threatens What Pope Leo Wants to Protect

  Jul 24, 202658 min

  Father Daniel Galadza is a Ukrainian Greek Catholic priest, liturgical scholar, and professor at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. A priest of the Archeparchy of Kyiv, he also serves on the Vatican's Dicastery for the Eastern Churches and has devoted his academic work to the history, theology, and liturgy of the Christian East. Father Galadza brings both scholarly expertise and personal experience to questions surrounding Eastern Christianity, the war in Ukraine, and the relationship between the Eastern Catholic Churches and Rome.In this conversation, Father Galadza reflects on how Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the Russian Orthodox Church's support for the war have transformed relations between Ukrainian and Russian Christianity. He explains what the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church can offer the wider Catholic Church, why Pope Leo XIV's early emphasis on the Eastern Churches was so significant, and why increasing numbers of Western Christians are exploring Eastern Christianity. The discussion explores the appeal of Byzantine worship, fasting, and the liturgical life, the unique vocation of the Eastern Catholic Churches as fully Eastern while remaining in communion with Rome, the recovery of authentic Eastern traditions after Vatican II, the role of married priests, and why the deepest challenge of Eastern Christianity is not simply its beauty, but the lifelong spiritual discipline it demands.Guest bio:Father Daniel Galadza is a priest of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and professor of Eastern liturgy at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome. He serves the Archeparchy of Kyiv and works at the Vatican's Dicastery for the Eastern Churches. His research focuses on Byzantine liturgy, the history of the Eastern Catholic Churches, and the theological and liturgical traditions of the Christian East.

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