Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Inside the VaticanDecember 04, 2019
Pope Francis greets the crowd before celebrating Mass at the baseball stadium in Nagasaki, Japan, Nov. 24, 2019. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” Gerry and I recap the pope’s visit to Thailand and Japan, which Gerry believes is “one for the history books.”

First up, in Thailand, the “land of smiles,” Pope Francis received a warm welcome. Gerry and I talk about the pope’s visits with his cousin and the leader of the nation’s Buddhists. Then, we look at the issues the pope hoped to bring to light: interreligious cooperation, migration, human trafficking, and giving Catholicism “a Thai face.”

Then, the pope traveled to Japan, where he spoke about nuclear weapons at the sites of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Gerry walks us through the moving scenes in both places, and we discuss Francis’ deep personal connections to Japan. We’ll also talk about the pope’s intention to add the immorality of nuclear weapons to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

After returning to Rome, Pope Francis met with a group of U.S. bishops from Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and the bishops requested that the Vatican release its report on former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. We update you on when to expect that report.

Finally, the pope visited the site of the first recreation of the Nativity scene to encourage Catholics to put up their crèche this Advent.

Links from the show:

Correction (Dec. 11, 2019): This article has been updated with the correct caption for the header photo. The photo shows Pope Francis greeting a crowd in Nagasaki, not participating in a moment of silence in Hiroshima as originally stated.

We don’t have comments turned on everywhere anymore. We have recently relaunched the commenting experience at America and are aiming for a more focused commenting experience with better moderation by opening comments on a select number of articles each day.

But we still want your feedback. You can join the conversation about this article with us in social media on Twitter or Facebook, or in one of our Facebook discussion groups for various topics.

Or send us feedback on this article with one of the options below:

We welcome and read all letters to the editor but, due to the volume received, cannot guarantee a response.

In order to be considered for publication, letters should be brief (around 200 words or less) and include the author’s name and geographic location. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

We open comments only on select articles so that we can provide a focused and well-moderated discussion on interesting topics. If you think this article provides the opportunity for such a discussion, please let us know what you'd like to talk about, or what interesting question you think readers might want to respond to.

If we decide to open comments on this article, we will email you to let you know.

If you have a message for the author, we will do our best to pass it along. Note that if the article is from a wire service such as Catholic News Service, Religion News Service, or the Associated Press, we will not have direct contact information for the author. We cannot guarantee a response from any author.

We welcome any information that will help us improve the factual accuracy of this piece. Thank you.

Please consult our Contact Us page for other options to reach us.

City and state/province, or if outside Canada or the U.S., city and country. 
When you click submit, this article page will reload. You should see a message at the top of the reloaded page confirming that your feedback has been received.
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

In 2012, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith declared that 'Just Love,' by Margaret Farley, R.S.M., could not be used in Catholic classrooms. It was a different era in the church.
James T. KeaneNovember 28, 2023
Rabbi Abraham Skorka of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Pope Francis embrace after visiting the Western Wall in Jerusalem on May 26, 2014. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)
The Second Vatican Council helped establish a bond of friendship between Catholics and Jews. What is the state of that unity after the Oct. 7 terrorist massacre?
David MeyerNovember 28, 2023
On the advice of his doctors, Pope Francis has “with great regret” canceled his visit to Dubai for the COP28 conference on climate change, the Vatican announced on Tuesday evening, Nov. 28.
Gerard O’ConnellNovember 28, 2023
Pope Francis has decided to punish one of his highest-ranking critics, Cardinal Raymond Burke, by revoking his right to a subsidized Vatican apartment and salary.