Last Saturday, Pope Francis appointed Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, the head of the Italian bishops conference and a consummate diplomat to visit Moscow, to lead a mission “to help ease tensions in the conflict in Ukraine.”

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell explains why Cardinal Zuppi was chosen for this job despite not being a Vatican diplomat.

[Listen and subscribe to “Inside the Vatican” on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.]

In the second half of the show, Gerry and host Colleen Dulle discuss the pope’s planned trip to World Youth Day in Lisbon, August 2 through 6. The pope plans to spend almost a full week in the country currently grappling with a devastating clerical sexual abuse scandal.

While in Portugal, Pope Francis also plans to visit Fátima, the site of a recognized Marian apparition. Gerry and Colleen explain how the “secrets of Fátima” revealed there relate to the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Links from the show

Cardinal Matteo Zuppi to lead peace mission

Pope Francis plans to visit Fatima for World Youth Day

Each week, Colleen Dulle goes behind the headlines of the biggest Vatican news stories with America’s Rome correspondent Gerard O’Connell. They'll break down complicated news stories that have a whole lot of history behind them in an understandable, engaging way. Colleen and Gerard will give you the inside scoop on what people inside the Vatican are thinking, saying—and planning.

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