Papacy

NPR journalists Scott Detrow and Daniel Burke have written a book about Pope Leo XIV and discussed it publicly. Detrow is a well-known NPR host and Burke covers religion, and their collaboration focuses on the first American-born pope. Attention is centered on what the two reporters learned while covering his election and early papacy.

Catholic Answers, a US-based Catholic apologetics organization, hosted an on-air debate with a Protestant caller over the papacy, the authority of the Pope, and its scriptural basis. The exchange forms part of the long-running Catholic-Protestant dispute over church authority, and listeners of both traditions continue to engage with arguments about papal primacy and succession from Peter.

Diaries written by Pope Francis are set for publication next month, offering his personal reflections on his years leading the Vatican. The announcement has drawn attention from Catholics and general readers curious about his private thoughts on the papacy, church affairs, and his decade as the first Jesuit and first Latin American pope.

A new NPR account details the unlikely rise of an American cardinal, known informally as 'Bob', to the papacy as Pope Leo — an outcome few in the Vatican or the wider Catholic world had anticipated. The excerpt recounts the behind-the-scenes maneuvering that led to the first US-born pope being elected, a moment many observers once considered nearly impossible given American geopolitical dominance.

October 2 marks the anniversary of the death of Pope Urban IV in 1264. History enthusiasts are noting that he was one of the last popes to be elected without previously serving as a cardinal, a rarity in the later history of the papacy. Urban IV, born Jacques Pantaléon in Troyes, was also known for establishing the feast of Corpus Christi.