Show Notes
‘Peace be with you all!’ Pope Leo’s first words to the world have resounded across continents — for all to hear. Fresh off the papal plane from Africa, CNN's Christopher Lamb speaks with Geraldine Doogue about what it means for the Church, and for the wider world, to have an American pope.
A year into his papacy, what’s Leo like, up close? What kind of moral and diplomatic voice is he becoming on the world stage? And what happens when the pope’s words are read through the prism of politics?
And a question for listeners: what would you like to hear more of in future episodes? Get in touch via our Facebook page or send a review via your podcast feed.
Mentioned in this episode:
Christopher Lamb's new book, American Hope: What Pope Leo XIV Means for the Church and the World
Peter Wehner's article in The Atlantic, The American Pope vs. the American President
Massimo Faggioli's Commonweal article, 'Cool' Catholicism?
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For decades, The Australian’s foreign editor Greg Sheridan has written about politics and faith as a veteran observer of the United States and author of three books on Christianity. He joins Geraldine Doogue to discuss the crisis of meaning among young men in particular and warns that Christianity in the US is increasingly being pulled into ideological contests in ways that distort its central message. Drawing on the insights of Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl, cited in Pope Leo’s encyclical, Sheridan argues that societies stripped of meaning become vulnerable to fear and extremism, on all sides. So how can churches provide a credible alternative to nihilism?
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