Vatican Insider

Welcome to Vatican Insider at this midpoint in February, the shortest month of the year! And Happy Valentine’s Day! After this week’s news report and Q&A, you will not want to miss the interview segment and my conversation with Tess Livingstone, veteran Australian journalist, as we talk about her latest best seller, “Pax Invictus,” on the life, times and legacy of the late, great Australian Cardinal George Pell.

Welcome back to Part II of my conversation with Fr. Ryan Brady, a priest and dear friend from Chicago, who talks with great beauty and profound love about his priesthood and where life has taken him since his May 2021 ordination. We spoke recently when he was in Rome on a Jubilee Year visit with the Chicago Chapter of the PAVM, Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums. We talk about that visit, about his ordination, the first parish where he worked and how he ended up as pastor of the church where he grew up, St. Christina in Chicago! The Lord has placed Fr. Ryan on a path that includes fascinating twists and turns – as you will hear this week! – the gifts and people and responsibilities that the Lord has placed on his path. Last week he told us how he helped find a parish for Arabic-speaking Latin Rite Catholics in one of the first churches where he served in Chicago. I open this week’s conversation reprising some of his words last weekend about this marvelous group!

Welcome to Vatican Insider on this first weekend of February 2025! I have a great story for you this week and next when my guest in the interview segment, Fr. Ryan Brady, a priest and dear friend from Chicago, talks about his priesthood and where life has taken him since his May 2021 ordination.

Don’t forget to tune in to Vatican Insider this last weekend of January, a weekend after the March for Life in Washington, D.C. My guest in the interview segment is Alveda King, a prominent figure on pro-life issues, and the niece of Martin Luther King, Jr. The campaign for a federal holiday in King’s honor began soon after his assassination in 1968. This holiday was signed into law by President Reagan in 1983, and first observed three years later on January 20, 1986. As you know, Martin Luther King, Jr. made his historic I have a dream speech on August 28 1963, a dream of justice and dignity for the African-American community and for all minorities This past Monday, January 20, 2025, a new U.S. president was inaugurated on Martin Luther King Day, the first time that has happened since 1997. Over the years, Alveda King and I have met and shared our own dreams – dreams of peace, for a world that protects life at every moment, for a world of justice, of protection for man’s innate human dignity. Several years ago, on a visit to Rome, I interviewed her for “Vatican Insider.” We had met earlier in the morning in my home and started the day with breakfast with two friends. Alveda said at one point she wanted to see the office and “sit in the chair” in which I wrote my columns and prepared my radio shows. She sat in that chair and even did a Facebook live, telling everyone she was at the ‘famous’ desk of her friend, Joan of Rome! This weekend I reprise that conversation as we talk about the pro-life movement. Happy belated Jan. 22 birthday, Alveda. And thanks for your work and life!

Welcome to Vatican Insider on a weekend that precedes a presidential inauguration, Martin Luther King Day and the football game between Notre Dame and Ohio that will determine the US collegiate football championship! The news segment starts in a moment and after that, stay right here for Part II of my conversation with Benedictine Fr. Edward Linton, Director of the Institute for Continuing Theological Education (ICTE) at the Pontifical North American College.

This week, we revisit my interview with American seminarians Patrick Ernst and Nicholas Monnin of the diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend in Indiana. These remarkable young men talk of their call to the priesthood – how they heard ‘the call’, what they expect of priesthood but most importantly, the very joy they feel at the mere idea of being a priest! They talk of some of the highlights of living in Rome and, given that Lent has just begun, they highlight something very special to the eternal City, Rome’s Lenten station churches. Do not miss that uplifting conversation! You will feel so positive about the future of the Church in the U.S.!

I want to welcome you this weekend to the first edition of Vatican Insider in this New Year, in this 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope. May it be a wonderful happy, hope-filled year for all of you! As usual, at the start of VI, you’ll hear lots of news highlights and then you’ll meet my special guest in the interview segment…Fr. Edward Linton, the Director of the Institute for Continuing Theological Education (ICTE) at the Pontifical North American College, our American seminary here in Rome.

I hope and pray that each one of you had a beautiful and blessed Christmas, marked by meaningful liturgies and many happy moments with family and friends. My days were full and delightfully happy, filled with wonderful memories.

In this weekend’s pre-Christmas edition of Vatican Insider, instead of an interview, I present a fun Special on Christmas and New Year, how both are celebrated in the Vatican and in Rome. Some interesting history, color and traditions are included in this report. So, gather around for a Christmas Story a la Italiana, and be sure to include the young ones!

In the interview segment of “Vatican Insider” this weekend, just days after the December 10 feast of Our Lady of Loreto, I present a Special on the stunning Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto on Italy’s Adriatic Coast. You will be enchanted by the story of this beautiful and historic shrine. This and more in today's Vatican Insider with Joan Lewis.

This week, in what is normally the interview segment of Vatican Insider, I offer a special report on the recently completed, 3-year-long Synod on Synodality in which I present what several U.S. prelates attending the synod had to say about that experience from pieces they wrote, press conferences they spoke at, or interviews they gave to the media. This and much more in today's edition of Vatican Insider.

Instead of a guest interview this week, I offer a two-pronged special on Thanksgiving, my own thoughts on how I am thankful for God’s multitude of blessings in my life, and then a very special reflection by Pope Francis on the meaning of Thanksgiving.

The interview segment of Vatican Insider this weekend features my conversation with celebrated Chicago sculptor Lou Cella and the story he tells of the statue he sculpted of the world’s beloved St. Frances Xavier Cabrini – Mother Cabrini – a statue now in Rome at the basilica of St. Paul. An American saint is back in her native Italy forever.

The interview segment of Vatican Insider this weekend features my conversation with celebrated Chicago sculptor Lou Cella and the story he tells of the statue he sculpted of the world’s beloved St. Frances Xavier Cabrini – Mother Cabrini – a statue now in Rome at the basilica of St. Paul. An American saint is back in her native Italy forever.

In the interview segment of Vatican Insider this week, I accompany you on a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Anthony of Padua, describing this much-acclaimed shrine and looking at the life and times of this celebrated saint.