Holy Smoke

<div>This headline may seem sensational, but the evidence is overwhelming. The Catholic Church is experiencing a bewildering range of crises, some of them long-term and familiar, such as demographic collapse and the continuing scandal of sex abuse. Others are being manufactured by a Pope who is allowing a faction of Catholic boomers to push an incoherent 'New Age' agenda. Whether Francis truly supports their ideas is anyone's guess – but he's increasingly willing to spout their inanities. On Saturday the Pope's official Twitter account <a href="https://twitter.com/Pontifex/status/1573651713805852672">told the faithful</a>:</div><br><div>'<em>The plant paradigm takes a different approach to earth and environment. Plants cooperate with all the surroundings [sic] environment; even when they compete, they cooperate for the good of the ecosystem. Let’s learn from the meekness of plants!'</em></div><br><div>This was tagged #TimeofCreation. But creation of what? Yesterday, Luke Coppen of <em>The Pillar</em> <a href="https://www.pillarcatholic.com/amsterdam-diocese-60-of-churches-need-to-close-in-five-years/">reported</a> that the Diocese of Haarlem-Amsterdam in the Netherland – where plant-based spirituality has been trendy for decades – will be closing 99 out of its 164 Catholic churches over the next five years. </div><br><div>This may be a depressing episode of Holy Smoke – but, given that the mainstream media isn't interested in the fate of the Catholic Church, I do recommend that you listen to it. </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Is western society in the grips of a progressive hysterical epidemic comparable to the Salem Witch Trials? </div><br><div>My guest on Holy Smoke this week, Andrew Doyle, argues precisely that in his book <em>The New Puritans</em>. He suggests that gender ideology, and particularly the dogmas of trans activists, together with the fantasies of Critical Race Theory, are dragging society into an alternative reality that resembles a fanatical religion. But it's one that doesn't have to employ its own ideological police – because actual police forces, along with other powerful institutions including the churches, have signed up to the New Puritanism (usually without understanding it). </div><br><div>Andrew Doyle has a doctorate in Renaissance poetry from Oxford University, so he's well acquainted with the postmodern manipulation of language and epistemology that equip proponents of so-called cancel culture. He'e also someone the new puritans would dearly love to cancel, in his roles as broadcaster, comedian and the creator of Titania McGrath, the hilarious Twitter parody account that's been suspended several times for poking fun at people who enjoy being satirised about as much as your average witchfinder-general. </div><br><div>Don't miss my interview with the formidable Dr Doyle! </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>In this episode of Holy Smoke, I look at the ever-deepening mysteries surrounding Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta, who was given a job assessing Vatican finances <em>after</em> he was forced to resign from his diocese in Argentina following allegations of abusive behaviour and financial mismanagement.</div><br><div>This year Zanchetta received a lengthy jail sentence for abusing seminarians. But he’s serving his time in a comfortable monastery, while the clergy who investigated him are the targets of a mysterious Vatican investigation. Now one of the abused seminarians has spoken out, accusing the Pope of protecting Zanchetta. This is potentially the biggest scandal involving a reigning pope for decades – and yet the mainstream media seems to be looking the other way. But I’m not. Don’t miss this episode. </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>The Catholic Church is half way through a two-year consultation exercise that will culminate in a 'Synod on Synodality' in the Vatican next year.<br><br></div><div>A synod on what? Don't worry if you're confused. No one in Rome seems to be able to define synodality, either. What will the world's bishops discuss? Probably not the figures revealing how many Catholics have taken part in this exercise, because they're acutely embarrassing. The English and Welsh bishops couldn't even get 10 per cent of Mass-goers to take part in a consultation process that many observers suspect has been shamelessly rigged by Pope Francis's bureaucrats. And in Belgium, a country where some six million people identify as Catholic, the number of participants is somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000.<br><br></div><div>My guest on this episode of Holy Smoke is Ed Condon, editor of the influential Pillar website. His judgment is as impartial as ever – but, make no mistake about it, we're looking at one of the most expensive and self-indulgent fiascos in recent Catholic history.<br><br>Produced by Damian Thompson and Cindy Yu.</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>In this week's Holy Smoke I offer some thoughts on the impressive and distinctive Christian faith of the Queen – impressive because it's so refreshingly direct compared to that of many of her politics-obsessed bishops, and distinctive because Elizabeth II is one of a dwindling band of Low Church but not Evangelical Anglicans whose favourite Sunday service is old-fashioned Matins. Questions of churchmanship aside, however, there is no doubting the intensity of her convictions, about which she has spoken with increasing candour and confidence in recent years. Will she turn out to be the United Kingdom's last robustly Christian monarch?</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>My guest on Holy Smoke this week is, many people believe, a victim of the intolerant progressive ideology currently gripping the Church of England. He's Calvin Robinson, a name possibly familiar to you from the row over the Diocese of London's decision not to ordain him. <br><br>Calvin is a young TV presenter with conservative Christian views that conflict with the liberal opinions of the hierarchy. He's been told they are too divisive – which is a bit rich coming from an organisation whose senior bishops routinely express opinions far to the left of those of the average churchgoer. Particular offence was caused by his insistence that the C of E isn't 'institutionally racist'. The fact that he's mixed race and London's bishops are white made no difference: he had expressed a heretical opinion. So much for 'diversity'. Do listen to what he has to say.</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>So Roe vs. Wade is as good as dead. Americans are about to lose their constitutional right to an abortion.<br><br></div><div>Five out of the nine Supreme Court justices have drafted an opinion in their forthcoming ruling on a Mississippi abortion case which strikes down the 1973 Roe ruling as 'egregiously wrong from the start'. As we all know it’s been leaked – but it’s expected to be issued pretty much unchanged in the next few weeks because, even if they wanted to, the justices can't change their votes without appearing to succumb to political pressure.<br><br></div><div>The unprecedented leaking of that draft opinion has been greeted by jubilation from religious conservatives and the degree of outrage that I don't think I've ever seen before by liberal opinion and the mainstream media, which amount to the same thing, really, in America. And in Britain too, at least on this topic: I haven’t seen certain BBC hacks so distressed since Trump got elected. <br><br></div><div>In this episode of Holy Smoke, I concentrate on one specific aspect of this extraordinary situation. Given that the striking down of Roe vs. Wade wouldn't actually make abortion illegal, but instead make it a matter for state law, you might think that Catholic bishops would have no reservations whatsoever about this decision. Isn’t this the famous subsidiarity in action? <br><br></div><div>Not so. For quite a few bishops, including liberal cardinals loyal to the Biden administration, this week's news has come as a very nasty surprise. To find out why, listen to the podcast.</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Few things are more depressing than the art, architecture and furnishings of the average modern church. The glorious aesthetic of light and colour of the Middle Ages and Renaissance has been replaced with an infantile modernist decor more suited to a primary school than a place of worship. </div><br><div>In the Catholic Church, especially, bishops who may privately have reasonably good taste happily commission cringeworthy 1970s-style art because they think it's demanded by 'the spirit of Vatican II'. </div><br><div>Is there any way Christian art can escape from the grip of mediocrity? My guest on this episode of Holy Smoke thinks there is. She's the charismatic Rome-based art historian Dr Elizabeth Lev, whose <a href="https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_lev_the_unheard_story_of_the_sistine_chapel?language=en">TED talk</a> about the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is both erudite and, in places, hilarious. Liz's plan to rescue Church art is ingenious and, I think, achievable. But to find out more you'll have to listen to the podcast. </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>My guest on this episode of Holy Smoke was an Anglican bishop for 37 years – one of the Church of England's foremost scholars and its leading witness for persecuted Christians. He was also an evangelical who, as bishop of the ancient see of Rochester, ordained women priests. But, as of this month, his title is Monsignor.<br><br></div><div>I am, of course, talking about the Pakistani-born Michael Nazir-Ali, whose decision to join the Ordinariate has come as an enormous, if surprising, boost to the fortunes of that small but dynamic organisation for ex-Anglicans set up by Pope Benedict XVI. This will be his first Easter not just as a monsignor – he has just been made a Prelate of Honour by Pope Francis – but as a Catholic. I hope you enjoy our wide-ranging discussion in which, inevitably, I ask Mgr Nazir-Ali whether he's changed his mind about women priests.</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Did you know that in the last year more Christians have been killed for their faith in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world combined? In 2021, at least 6,000 Christians died for their faith, and 80 per cent of those were Nigerians. Their murderers were – you may not be too shocked to learn – almost to a man Islamists. But, this being Nigeria, a supposedly secular state where northern provinces impose Sharia on their populations, the situation is chaotic. </div><br><div>Four different groups are implicated. They are: the notorious Boko Haram; the so-called 'Islamic State in West African Province'; armed bandits; and an ethnic group of Fulani militants, often described in the media as herders – which they traditionally are, but these days they seem to more interested in slaughtering Christians than in their livestock.</div><br><div>To quote <a href="https://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/world-watch-list/nigeria/?gclid=CjwKCAjwur-SBhB6EiwA5sKtjpiHW5K9WMogPpiSs8E7-2CCHFPHMo5ht-wPxYSGoZk-mc_2pdcBoRoCYJ4QAvD_BwE">the Christian charity Open Doors</a>, 'killing Christian men is a key strategy for these groups because it destroys livelihoods, with men tending to be the family's main breadwinner, and depopulates Christian communities.' </div><br><div>The violence employed by the Fulani herdsman in particular is so grotesque that I won't describe it in detail, but if I tell you that their targets include pregnant women and specifically their unborn children that will give you some idea of the apocalyptic horror involved.</div><br><div>My guest on Holy Smoke today is a remarkable man: Pastor Ayo Adedoyin, based at Jesus House in London. He's also chief executive officer of an international development and human rights charity, PSJ UK, which tries to mobilise Africans in the UK into a cohesive voice on this subject.</div><br><div>It's an urgent task. We're talking about a genocidal campaign that Ayo compares to the blood-soaked slaughter in the streets of Ukraine – but for years it hasn't attracted anything like the publicity it deserves. And the reason for that is that the international media and also international politicians don't seem particularly interested in the religious dimension of this conflict.</div><br><div>The British Foreign Office – despite various promises – hasn't really responded to repeated calls to make it a higher priority. The Trump administration <strong>made some attempt</strong>, but a US administration led by a supposed Catholic, Joe Biden, has fallen quiet. Do please listen to what Pastor Ayo has to say. </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Cardinal George Pell has given a wide-ranging interview to <em>The Spectator</em>'s Holy Smoke podcast in which he criticises the Vatican's 2018 deal with Beijing and especially the secrecy surrounding it. <br><br></div><div>The unpublished pact allows the Chinese Communist Party to choose Catholic bishops, whose appointments are then rubber-stamped by Pope Francis. 'I know high-up people in the Vatican are very dissatisfied with the way things are going,' says Pell, the former Vatican Prefect for the Economy.<br><br></div><div>'The agreement is there to try to get a bit of space for the Catholics. Obviously that's praiseworthy. [But] I don't think we've gained anything. The persecutions seem to be continuing. In some places they've got worse.' Nobody 'outside a small circle' knows the details of the agreement, 'which seems to me to be quite irregular.'<br><br></div><div>The cardinal was imprisoned in his native Australia on trumped-up sex charges before being acquitted by the country's High Court. It is widely believed that his enemies in the Vatican played a part in framing him. In the interview, Pell doesn't discuss his own ordeal – but he does express concern at the lack of transparency in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/17/world/europe/cardinal-giovanni-angelo-becciu-vatican-trial.html">the ongoing Vatican trial </a>of Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the Pope's former chief of staff, and his associates, who are accused of committing large-sale fraud.<br><br></div><div>While affirming his loyalty to Pope Francis, Pell also makes clear his unhappiness with the sudden move last year to restrict celebrations of the traditional Latin Mass. 'I think it was a most unfortunate decision and I think a bit inexplicable, too,' he says. But he advises traditionalists to keep calm, because there are signs that the very hard line taken by the Vatican's liturgy chief, the Yorkshire-born Archbishop Arthur Roche, is now being reconsidered.<br><br></div><div>Last month, Pope Francis told the traditionalist Priestly Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP) that <a href="https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/pope-says-tc-wont-bind-fssp?s=r">it could continue </a>celebrating Mass and other sacraments using the old Missal, granting them a greater degree of freedom than Roche favoured. Cardinal Pell says 'the working presumption' should be that the clarified rights of the FSSP also extend to other traditionalist priestly fraternities, such as the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP).</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Four million Christians in western Ukraine belong to the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which since the end of the 16th century has adhered to a Byzantine rite while recognising the authority of the Pope. For this reason these Ukrainian Catholics are despised by the Russian Orthodox and its political masters: Stalin tried to force them to become Orthodox again and threw their leader, Cardinal Slipyi, into jail, where he remained from 1945 until 1963. </div><br><div>And how was his heroism rewarded? Pope Paul VI denied him the title of Patriarch and, after Vatican II, the Catholic Church set about Westernising their traditions – for example, discouraging them from having married priests. Rome saw Greek-rite Catholics as an obstacle to reunion with Eastern Orthodoxy, and in 2016 Pope Francis met Putin's stooge Patriarch Kirill of Moscow in Havana, of all places, to issue a declaration that undermined the spiritual identity of this brave community.</div><br><div>Does that sound familiar? It must ring a bell with underground Catholics in China. They were betrayed even more cynically by the Vatican's secret 2018 pact with Beijing, which herded them into the quasi-Christian services of the CCP's "Catholic" Church. </div><br><div>The comparison between Rome's treatment of Ukrainian and Chinese Catholics is now inescapable, and in this week's Holy Smoke I discuss them with Fr Benedict Kiely of <a href="http://Nasarean.org">Nasarean.org</a>, a leading advocate for persecuted Christians. Will the Pope boost the morale of Ukrainian Catholics by making their current leader, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, a cardinal like his predecessors? (Francis loves to withhold red hats from archbishops of major sees who don't sign up to his incoherent progressive agenda.) More importantly, will he grant Shevchuk the title of Patriarch? Given that Francis refused to join Western leaders in denouncing Russia's invasion of a sovereign state, just as he has kept silent about Chinese atrocities, I wouldn't hold your breath.</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine is fundamentally inspired by his determination to preserve the Orthodox identity of Holy Mother Russia, <a href="https://unherd.com/2022/02/putins-spiritual-destiny/">according to</a> the Rev Giles Fraser, writing for <em>UnHerd</em> today. That's not as preposterous a suggestion as you might think, given that the first mass baptisms in the ancient homeland of 'Rus' took place in Kiev – and that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church recently repudiated the authority of the Patriarch of Moscow. But does that mean that Putin's murderous behaviour should be seen in the context of a war of religion? Does the former KGB agent have a religious bone in his body? Is he secretly laughing at those Christian right-wingers who have cast him in the role of defender of Christendom? (Giles Fraser, I should add, is certainly not one of them.) Joining me for this episode of Holy Smoke is Archbishop Nikitas, head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Great Britain, who – as you might expect – is deeply sceptical of attempts to ascribe spiritual motives to the Russian dictator. </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>In the latest Holy Smoke, I ask the Rev Marcus Walker, Rector of St Bartholomew the Great in the City of London, about the Church of England's plans to create a new breed of bureaucrat-bishop who will pontificate about climate change, Brexit, Covid or whatever without having to bother looking after a diocese. He also discusses a related proposal to put ordinary bishops on fixed-term contracts that will be renewed only if they toe the party line. If adopted, these ideas would lead to the biggest shake-up in the Church's government since the Reformation – with dreadful consequences for independent-minded bishops and ordinary worshippers. All very worrying for Anglicans – and Catholics, too, since the Vatican's risible 'synodal way' is inspired by the same liberal control-freakery. Don't miss this outspoken episode! </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>My dear sister Carmel died aged 57 on November 23, after a three-year cancer ordeal during which she displayed the most astonishing courage. I interviewed her twice on this podcast about her faith, her illness and her unquenchable optimism. I knew at the time that one day I'd have to record an episode paying tribute to her after she died, and here it is.</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>In this episode of Holy Smoke, Archbishop Nikitas of Thyateira and Great Britain, leader of Britain’s Greek Orthodox, defends sacred Christian tradition with a robustness I’ve never heard from a native British bishop. </div><br><div>The Florida-born Nikitas has exhilarating and controversial things to say on all sorts of topics: the Western Churches’ cosy relationship with secularism, the devastating civil war between Moscow and Constantinople, and the essence of Orthodox mysticism. </div><br><div>Needless to say, I couldn’t resist asking the Archbishop what he makes of Pope Francis’s grim persecution of Latin Mass Catholics. Nikitas is generally a fan of Francis – but I doubt that the Vatican will be reassured by his wise and candid comments on this topic. </div><br><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Pope Francis renewed his campaign against the Latin Mass this month, permitting his liturgy chief Archbishop Arthur Roche to issue all manner of threats to clergy celebrating the ancient liturgy. This 'clarification' has been greeted with horror by bishops around the world, including many who aren't keen on the old rite. <br><br></div><div>This episode of Holy Smoke puts this outrage in the context of what one distinguished priest calls the 'Wild West' of the Bergoglio pontificate. Never have I known such widespread despair among all but the most hardline liberal clergy. That this should be happening at Christmas underlines the grim unfairness of it all – and the desperate need for regime change in the Church. And if that means the Vatican as we know it ceases to exist, perhaps that isn't such a bad thing. </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>In this episode of Holy Smoke, I interview Julia Meloni, author of <em>The St Gallen Mafia: Exposing the Secret Reformist Group Within the Church</em>. It's the first detailed study of the self-described 'mafia' of liberal cardinals who worked tirelessly to prevent and then undermine the pontificate of Benedict XVI. </div><br><div>The book contains many disconcerting revelations, and also well-sourced speculation that the group's founder, the Jesuit scholar Cardinal Martini of Milan, may have visited Benedict shortly before his own death in order to pressure him to resign. By 2013, when that happened, Martini was dead, but he had given his blessing to a St Gallen candidate: his fellow Jesuit Cardinal Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, whose initiatives as pope – and particularly the vicious attempt to suppress the Traditional Latin Mass – coincide very closely with Martini's own agenda. </div><br><div>Do listen to my conversation with Julia, formerly one of Pope Francis's biggest fans. I promise you won't forget it in a hurry. </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>The University of Nottingham has been forced to abandon its sinister attempt to ban Fr David Palmer from becoming its Catholic chaplain because his defence of unborn life might upset snowflakes. In this episode of Holy Smoke, I talk to one of Fr Palmer's key allies, Ryan Christopher, UK director of Alliance Defending Freedom, about that appalling episode and its backdrop: a sneaky culture of below-the-radar censorship driven in large part by student unions. Needless to say, the latter are furious that this government is passing legislation to protect free speech on campuses. Ryan has the details. </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>If you belong to or care about the Church of England, you may be shocked by some of the things you learn in this episode of Holy Smoke.</div><div><br> I'm not referring to the familiar evidence that the Established Church, in common with all mainstream Christian denominations in Britain, is watching its congregations shrink <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/church-of-england-spends-millions-but-fails-to-convert-cash-into-congregations-xx7hbxj8d">at a humiliating rate</a>. In 2019, an average of only 690,000 people attended Church of England services on Sundays – 50,000 fewer than in 2016. And that was before Covid. This is what people mean when they talk about churchgoing falling off a cliff, and it’s a desperate problem for a church facing the impossible challenge of maintaining 16,000 buildings, many of them Grade I listed.<br><br></div><div>What shocked me was what my guest, the Rev Marcus Walker, Rector of St Bartholomew the Great in the City of London, revealed about the horrors of the C of E’s insatiably greedy and tediously right-on bureaucracy. An ever-growing army of administrators and busybodies – he describes their numbers as ‘astronomical’ – is raiding the collection plates of local parishes so that they can force-feed churchgoers with their drivel.<br><br></div><div>Marcus is one of the best-connected priests in the Church of England – and one of the bravest. In our interview he talks candidly about the ‘despoiling’ of parishes by the managerial culture promoted by the bishops, which has thrown away more than £240 million on doomed projects to attract new worshippers. These schemes are mostly cack-handed attempts to foist the charismatic evangelical model of ‘church plants’ on ordinary parishes. (For an idea of just how badly this can go wrong, read <a href="https://www.hampshirechronicle.co.uk/news/19397173.chronic-problems-winchester-diocese-revealed/">the under-reported story</a> of the resignation of the Bishop of Winchester, Tim Dakin, a hardline evangelical whose obsession with mega-churches and alleged harassment of vicars led Winchester to be dubbed ‘the diocese of North Korea’).<br><br></div><div>It was a barking mad scheme to create 10,000 ‘lay-led churches’ that prompted Marcus Walker, <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/as-this-the-last-chance-to-save-the-church-of-england">writing in The Spectator in July</a>, to launch a ‘Save the parish’ campaign that, among other things, encourages parish priests and their congregations to lock away their money so that the power-crazed mediocrities who control the church can’t get their hands on it.<br><br></div><div>Trust me: you don’t want to miss what the Rector of the oldest parish church in the City of London has to say. And, once you’ve listened to him, I don’t think you’ll be surprised that St Bartholomew’s is absolutely thriving under his stewardship.<br><br></div><div>(Note to Catholic listeners: I couldn’t resist asking Marcus, former deputy director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, what he makes of Pope Francis’s campaign to suppress the traditional Latin Mass…)</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Say what you like about Pope Francis, but he's incapable of giving a boring in-flight interview. On Wednesday, coming back from Hungary and Slovakia, he was asked about the problem of pro-abortion Catholic politicians receiving Holy Communion. He immediately launched into a ferocious denunciation of abortion, describing it as homicide, saying there was no middle way and stating that support for abortion was grounds for 'excommunication'. </div><br><div>Francis then slightly qualified this by explaining that these 'excommunicated' Catholics needed to be lovingly shown the error of their ways, but it was hard to escape the obvious conclusion. The Pope regards the President as barred from Communion – which drives a horse and cart through the 'don't ask, don't tell' policy of Biden's own bishop, Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington. </div><br><div>In this week's Holy Smoke, Dr Ed Condon, canon lawyer and editor of the brilliant Catholic website The Pillar, offers us an admirably lucid 'explainer' on this complicated topic. His conclusion is basically the same as mine. Though Ed wouldn't put it this way, the Pope has just thrown the fanatically pro-choice President of the United States under the bus. </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Religious freedom is already being mercilessly attacked in Taliban-run Afghanistan: Muslim women in particular face a living hell unless they're happy to submit to their new rulers' psychotic brand of Sharia. </div><br><div>The United States is required by its own laws to do everything it can to champion religious liberty around the world. But Afghan's moderate Muslims, China's Uighurs, Myanmar's Rohynga and Christians in dozens of countries would be foolish to trust President Joe Biden, whose administration can't wait to dismantle the First Amendment Rights of conservative Christians back home. </div><br><div>My guest is Andrea Picciotti-Bayer of the Washington-based Conscience Project, which speaks up for people of faith who commit the thought crime of not subscribing to liberal gender ideology. Like many people, she's worried by Biden's partisan choice of personnel for US international religious freedom posts. None of them are Christians. It's an enlightening but alarming discussion. Don't miss it. </div><div><br></div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>In the last episode of Holy Smoke, I discussed Pope Francis's brutal and petty new document which seeks to ban as many Latin Masses as possible. This week we look at the other recent developments, which are arguably just as disturbing: two criminal prosecutions in which close allies of the Pope are accused of a range of hair-raising offences – and the question of how much Francis knew about their activities still hasn't been answered, either by the Vatican or its tame press corps.. Also, I touch on a new explanation for Rome's dreadful pact with China. Did the Pope's Secretary of State sign away the freedom of Chinese Catholics because Beijing was threatening to release data relating to the use of the gay hook-up app Grindr inside the walls of the Vatican? We may never find out. But one day there will be a new pope. Is it too much to hope that the college of cardinals will learn from the disasters of the past eight years? </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Traditionalist Catholics are still reeling from the Pope's imposition of ferocious new rules limiting the celebration of the old Latin Mass. On Friday, he tore up <em>Summorum Pontificum</em>, Benedict XVI's document rehabilitating the pre-Vatican II ceremonies — and he did so while his predecessor was still alive.<br> <br>Francis's replacement, <em>Traditionis Custodes</em>, and the letter that accompanies it, relegate Latin Mass Catholics to that of second-class citizens. Their priests must now seek permission from their bishops before using the Old Rite. It's a shocking development, and the subject of today's Holy Smoke podcast, which asks how traditionalists should respond to what amounts to a poison-pen letter from the pontiff. </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Christian music lovers of all denominations – Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, whatever – know only too well that they enter their local churches at their peril. In this week's episode I talk to the irrepressible Lois Letts, a wedding and funeral organist for C of E churches in rural Herefordshire, about bad hymns. The funerals are appropriate, since when I first met Lois she wrote obituaries for the <em>Times</em>. Pity the wet vicar who tries to force her to play a bad hymn! We don't mince our words: our discussion is a euphemism-free zone and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. And there's a musical coda, a treat in store for those many Holy Smoke listeners who are devoted to the memory of Dame Clara Butt.</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Is the mental health of Christians beginning to collapse under the strain not just of Covid and its effect on worship but also the bottomless contempt of progressive ideology for religious belief? This week's Holy Smoke is a conversation with theologian Dr Gavin Ashenden about a crisis of morale that is robbing some Christians of the will to live. One former churchgoer told me last week that he'd be perfectly happy not to wake up the next morning – and I knew exactly how he felt. But in conclusion Gavin suggests a way of breaking out of this existential nightmare. So, as they say on the BBC, if you're affected by any of the issues raised in this programme, make sure to listen through to the end.</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>America's Catholic bishops are furiously divided among themselves this week, after a liberal faction led by the Biden loyalists Cardinals Cupich of Chicago and Wilton Gregory of Washington tried to stop them discussing the question of whether the radically pro-choice president of the United States should be allowed to receive Holy Communion.<br> <br>As I say in the new episode of Holy Smoke, It looks as if most of the 290 active bishops are ready to enforce such a ban – goaded by Joe Biden's increasingly hardline support for completely unrestricted abortions, and his plans to remove constitutional protection for pro-life public employees.<br> <br>The controversy is particularly nerve-wracking for the US bishops because they don't know where the Pope stands on this question. Francis is a big fan of the current Argentine President, Alberto Fernandez, who has recently legalised abortion in the country. When the Pope and the President met in Rome this month, the subject apparently didn't even come up.<br> <br>For more thought on the wider ramifications of this crisis – and it's a big crisis – tune in.</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Today’s Holy Smoke podcast is about the increasingly brutal bullying and silencing of people – especially Christians – who hold the ‘wrong’ opinions on controversial topics. A culture of censorship is becoming ever more deeply embedded in public institutions not just in Britain but also throughout Europe.<br><br></div><div>There is a direct link between Europe's increasingly fanatical attempts to police public opinion and the former Soviet bloc. My guest Paul Coleman, executive director of free-speech legal advocates ADF International, explains that when Moscow and its satellites were involved in drawing up international human rights legislation after the Second World War, they insisted that it should include the criminalisation of speech.<br><br></div><div>One wonders whether Boris Johnson and his ministers are aware of this and, if so, whether they care. As Coleman points out, although European bodies are hunting down heretics with predictable relish, the behaviour of the heavily politicised police forces of post-Brexit Britain is in some respects even worse.</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>The subject of this week’s Holy Smoke is charisma, which you might think is one of the most hackneyed and devalued words in the language. But its popularity is no accident. ‘Charisma’ is shorthand for one of the most revolutionary – and useful – concepts in intellectual history.</div><div><br></div><div>The word ‘charisma’ is taken from St Paul, who employed it to describe the gifts that descended on the first Christians at Pentecost. Indeed, Paul may have invented the word. But it was the tortured polymath Weber who suggested that the sudden appearance of men and women who can apparently perform miracles, real or metaphorical, has transformed almost every human society.</div><div><br></div><div>My guest today is the diplomatic historian Professor John Charmley, whose unflattering biography of Winston Churchill divided opinion when it was published in 1993 – as it was intended to. Professor Charmley is now Pro-Vice Chancellor for academic strategy at St Mary's University, Twickenham, a Catholic university which he wants to root even more firmly in its faith and heritage. He’s certainly not the sort of hand-wringing academic paralysed by colonial guilt. I think you’ll enjoy this episode.</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>What were Prince Philip's religious beliefs? The Duke of Edinburgh had Orthodox Christian ancestry, but how was he drawn to its traditions, was he influenced by the Queen's faith, and why was he critical of Catholicism? Damian Thompson speaks to Gavin Ashenden, chaplain to the Queen from 2008 to 2017.</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>The invasion of the sanctuary of a Polish church in Balham on Good Friday by the Metropolitan police was not only a shocking event but also a sinister piece of history. It can't be interpreted as a premeditated attack on Christianity – but it's evidence of the utter irrelevance of Britain's Christian heritage to the culture of liberal bureaucracy that is fast replacing <a href="http://it.In">it.In</a> this week’s Holy Smoke episode, Dr Gavin Ashenden and I talk about the blundering insensitivity of the police officer who marched into the sanctuary of Christ the King Church during the veneration of the Cross without apparently understanding anything of what the ceremony signified.<br><br>But equally unsettling, in its way, has been the relative silence of Christian leaders when confronted by this outrageous disruption of a service on the grounds that the congregation were not observing social distancing procedures – something that isn't immediately clear from the video footage. In my opinion, Anglican and Catholic bishops are just as passive in the face of liberal bureaucracy as any heavy-handed police officer. It's no coincidence that today's police chiefs and senior clergy use roughly the same vocabulary to express many of the same dogmatic platitudes.<br><br>Gavin and I cover a lot of ground in this episode, including Boris Johnson's extraordinary Easter Sunday address to the nation in which he appeared to be professing his own Christian faith. Was this perhaps a veiled response to Friday's public relations setback – one that would have been a full-scale disaster if the police had invaded any religious ceremony held by a recognised ethnic minority? But, of course, that would never have happened.</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>As we all know, it’s safe for three people to sing hymns in church, but any more than three is absolutely deadly. Those are the rules as set down by the Church of England, and as a result no one in Anglican services (or Catholic ones) will hear the glorious Good Friday Hymn 'O Sacred Head’ tomorrow in the four-part harmony it requires. <br><br>But if you stick on a CD of Bach’s <em>St Matthew Passion</em>, you'll hear four separate harmonisations of perhaps the most haunting hymn tune ever written. The Cantor of St Thomas’s Leipzig was obsessed with this tune, originally a popular song with excruciating lyrics by the composer Hans Leo Hassler. Bach’s older contemporary Dietrich Buxtehude had fun with it, as did Paul Simon – enchantingly, in his 1974 song ‘America’. <br><br>This episode of Holy Smoke tells the story of the piece, and reveals some of the miraculous things Bach did with it in his other settings. He has a way of dive-bombing a movement with it that can make you jump out of your seat the first time you hear it. Or, in the case of its guest appearance in the Christmas Oratorio, dance round the room. <br><br>I hope you enjoy this episode. But be warned: you’ll also hear the podcast host attempting to perform one of Bach’s chorale preludes on the piano in his bedroom. Fortunately it only lasts two minutes, so you just have time to nip out and make a cup of tea. </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>In this week's Holy Smoke podcast I suggest that Pope Francis has a more profound appreciation of classical music than any of his predecessors. I've been saying this for years and everyone assumes that it’s a wind-up or that I'm confusing him with Benedict XVI. Not so.<br><br>The Pope doesn't just enjoy listening to Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Wagner: he has strong views on the best recordings of their work, and very sound views they are too. You'll have to listen to the podcast to hear the details, but here's a taster: Francis not only recognises Wilhelm Furtwängler as the supreme interpreter of Wagner's Ring cycle, but he asserts the superiority of the live 1950 La Scala recordings to those taped for Italian radio in 1953. And he’s right.<br><br>Fortunately all the recordings that receive the papal imprimatur are out of copyright, so you’ll hear extracts from the performances. And I reveal what members of the Sistine Chapel choir told me about Francis’s obsession with an opera whose symbolism has always made Catholics feel uneasy…</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Is Dr Jordan Peterson about to convert to Christianity? If so, it’s a big deal. The earnest but sardonic Canadian psychologist is already the most effective advocate for the moral precepts of Christianity in the English-speaking media. But, until now, his penetrating exposition of the Bible has been inspired more by Jungian symbolism than by actual religious belief.<br><br></div><div>That may be about to change, albeit not in the happiest of circumstances. In recent months Peterson has suffered from a combination of medical conditions that have left him in wretched pain, both physical and psychological. This has left him wondering whether it’s time to submit to the dogmatic assertions of orthodox Christianity. He explains his complex reasoning in an extraordinary podcast, in which he presents himself to his friend Jonathan Pageau, an Eastern Orthodox Christian, as something close to a broken man. He certainly sounds and looks like one. The contrast with the Jordan Peterson who politely humiliated the sneering Cathy Newman of Channel 4 News is excruciating. <br><br></div><div>Peterson will survive his crisis, I’m sure. Whether he will convert is, of course, impossible to say; he doesn’t know himself. But my guest this week, Dr Gavin Ashenden, is well qualified to describe his dilemma. Gavin was himself a disciple of Jung before what he describes as an encounter with demons led him back to Christianity. He makes the point that, even if Peterson doesn’t take the leap of faith, he has already led more people into that faith than any number of dim-witted or intellectually cowardly bishops. Please don’t miss this episode. </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Beijing's new rules for clergy of all religions in China have been published<a href="https://bitterwinter.org/enter-the-administrative-measures-for-religious-clergy/"> </a>in English – and, disastrously for the Vatican, they make no mention of any role for Pope Francis in approving the appointment of Chinese Catholic bishops. So it looks as if the Vatican's secret deal with China, which gave the Pope nominal spiritual sovereignty over party stooges operating as bishops, is dead in the water. President Xi appears to have reneged on the agreement – having achieved his aim of breaking the back of the underground Catholic Church in China.</div><div> </div><div>Reports of the debacle have come at a very inconvenient moment for the Pope, who this week is planning to visit persecuted Christians in Iraq. My guest this week is Fr Benedict Kiely, founder of <a href="http://Nasrean.org">Nasrean.org</a>, a charity that helps dispossessed religious minorities in the Middle East. He reveals that some Iraqi Christians are worried that Francis will use his trip not to throw a spotlight on the their desperate situation but, instead, to call for 'dialogue' with their Muslim oppressors. Such posturing would make matters worse – rather as the Vatican's chumminess with Beijing has delivered some underground Catholics into the arms of their enemies. Fr Kiely's verdict on Rome's bungling Chinese Ostpolitik is damning and memorable. Don't miss this interview. </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>This week's Holy Smoke examines the fragmentation of American Catholicism following the election of pro-choice Catholic Joe Biden. It focuses on the strangest current of thought among the many conservative Catholics calling for an urgent change of approach in order to confront what promises to be an authoritarian liberal administration.</div><div><br></div><div>It's called integralism, a label previously attached to distinctly un-American European Catholic reactionaries such as Action française and General Franco's Falangists. In its US incarnation it's less nationalist but in some ways equally extreme. Its proponents want to turn the United States into a nation in which, in the long run, only Catholics will be full citizens eligible to hold office. This new integralism is a medieval fantasy built around the teachings of St Thomas Aquinas. It has been labelled 'clerico-fascist' by its critics – and also, more convincingly to my mind, 'Catholic Sharia'. No one is going to vote for it, of course, but as you'll hear in this episode it could well have an impact on US politics. </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>In 1930, the American novelist Thomas Wolfe wrote these chilling words: 'The whole conviction of my life now rests upon the belief that loneliness, far from being a rare and curious phenomenon, is the central and inevitable fact of human existence.'<br><br>It's an idea that, for many of us, is harder to shrug off now than it was a year ago. Loneliness has many dimensions and, after nearly a year of intermittent lockdowns, its consequences are piling up. We've talked before on Holy Smoke about the lockdown's devastating effect on churchgoing – but, as my guest Mary Kenny points out, there's been an across-the-board suspension of the small-scale social activities that mean so much in particular for older people. As she says, many Britons in their 70s and 80s are wondering if they'll live to see another coffee morning.<br><br>A depressing topic then, but, this being the irrepressible Mary, our conversation veers off in all sorts of quirky directions. The best quote comes from her late husband, the brilliant maverick war correspondent Richard West: 'To be young, penniless, living in Paris, in love and dying of consumption – what could be more wonderful that that?' What on earth did he mean? You'll have to listen to find out.</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Cardinal Blase Cupich, the ambitious left-wing archbishop of Chicago, must have imagined that Joe Biden's inauguration last week would be a moment to savour. He and a small number of his liberal colleagues, known as 'the Biden bishops', have been working tremendously hard to make sure that, once their candidate was elected, any mention of his radical support for abortion would be <em>sotto voce</em> and preferably inaudible. They thought they'd succeeded.</div><div><br></div><div>But then things went spectacularly wrong. The president of the US bishops' conference, Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, drafted a statement on behalf of his colleagues that not only mentioned Biden's pro-choice activism but also drew attention to the fact that the new administration planned to remove certain legal protections or 'conscience rights' from Americans who won't participate in abortions or other affronts to their traditional morality. </div><div><br></div><div>The Biden bishops were horrified, and pulled a fast one: they contacted the Vatican's left-leaning Secretariat of State, which ordered that Gomez's statement be spiked until after the inauguration. News of the censorship was immediately leaked – unsurprisingly, since most American bishops agreed with Gomez's statement. A new online publication called The Pillar <a href="https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/breaking-vatican-intervenes-to-spike">revealed what had happened</a> – and named the two pro-Biden cardinals who had clashed with Gomez: Cupich of Chicago, who seems to have been the ringleader, and Joseph Tobin of Newark.</div><div><br></div><div>At which point Cupich did just about the most stupid thing imaginable: he resorted to Twitter. To find out what he said, and why he's now blotted his copybook in Rome, listen to this week's episode of Holy Smoke. </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>The English parish has been a source of spiritual consolation, and a certain amount of social comedy, for more than 1,000 years. So it's very old – and, it turns out, frighteningly vulnerable to the coronavirus. Countless parish churches, both Anglican and Catholic, will quietly shut their doors forever over the next few months. Bishops will blame Covid-19, but they bear a heavy responsibility for the fragile state of parish life before it was hit by the epidemic. <br><br>In this episode of Holy Smoke, former Church of England vicar Dr Gavin Ashenden tells us what it was like running a parish, and reveals his strategies for dealing with difficult personalities in the congregation, some of whom really did resemble the stereotypes of British sitcoms. He's convinced that many parish churches have effectively been killed by their bishops' uninspiring management techniques, and more recently their embarrassing infatuation with woke culture. <br><br>But you may be surprised and comforted by the optimism that breaks in at the end of our discussion. So don't miss it!</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Every day there’s some sort conspiracy theory being aired by right-wing Catholics on social media involving the globalist agenda of the Pope’s UN/Chinese/Masonic/Soros foundation puppet-masters. No surprise, perhaps, given the fervour with which the Pope promotes a globalist agenda while his diplomats kowtow to Beijing. Some left-wing Catholics are into the conspiracy business, too: in their imaginations it’s the feisty conservative broadcaster EWTN taking the role of the Soros Foundation.<br><br>Catholic pundits with furious views have become a major headache for the Vatican – one it richly deserves, you might think, given what Cardinal George Pell describes as the ’Technicolour corruption’ lurking in the Curia, most of which goes unreported by a tame Vatican press corps.<br><br>But is there any excuse for promoting conspiracy theories? Of course not, especially if a fantasy could have serious consequences for society. So we need to take a close look at the conservative Catholic campaign against coronavirus vaccines, which is informed not only by extreme moral scruples (certain vaccines make use of a ‘cell line’ derived from an abortion 50 years ago, something the Catholic Church isn’t too worried about) but also absurd claims about the vaccines changing our DNA. <br><br>Ed Condon, editor of The Pillar, a new Catholic investigative outfit, joins me for this episode, which begins with some rather startling ’news’ about the arrest of Pope Francis amid a shootout at the Vatican.</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Rarely has a religious culture collapsed more rapidly than that of Catholic Ireland, which just 30 years ago seemed indestructible. Incredibly, it looks as if the Irish Church will have ordained more bishops than priests in 2020. It goes without saying that the Irish abuse crisis has hugely accelerated the process of secularisation in what was once the most Catholic of countries. Young people in Ireland now refer to the clergy with a withering disdain verging on hatred. </div><div><br></div><div>My guest today, the celebrated Irish journalist, broadcaster and playwright Mary Kenny, offers a more nuanced analysis of the powerful and paradoxical world in which she grew up: one in which Catholic clergy and lay people could be simultaneously fervently pious, warm-hearted and yet paralysed by petty snobbery. She talks about how the Irish Free State handed far too much power to bishops and priests. In effect, they replaced the disappearing Anglo-Irish nobility as the new aristocracy of rural Ireland, exercising an authority over people's lives that could be generous or malevolent and sometimes a mixture of both. I think it's a gripping interview, full of the little details that make Irish short stories so compulsively readable. </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>It's the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven. In this episode of Holy Smoke, Damian Thompson is joined by his fellow composer Sir James MacMillan to discuss a side of Beethoven that the postmodern artistic establishment prefers to ignore: his unwavering faith in God and the surprisingly strict morality that arose from it. <br><br>Beethoven may not have gone to Mass very often, but before he died he asked to see a priest and during years of intense suffering composed one of the greatest of all settings of the liturgy, the Missa Solemnis. He was more proud of this masterpiece than of any of his symphonies; before he wrote it he meticulously researched the Latin text, and he also plunged into a study of the polyphonic masters of the 16th century. <br><br>Sir James MacMillan is currently presenting a Radio 4 series on the religious faith of four composers: Tallis, Wagner, Elgar and Bernstein. If the BBC has the good sense to make another season, then he's planning to do a programme on Beethoven. But you don't have to wait to hear his fascinating reflections on the great man: just listen to this exhilarating episode of Holy Smoke. </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>The next president of the United States is, we are told, a devout Catholic who scrupulously attends Sunday Mass. This is in sharp contrast to the current president, who has never been more than an occasional churchgoer with, to put it politely, ill-defined religious views. So why are many Christians worried that a Joe Biden presidency poses an unprecedented threat to America’s constitutional guarantee of religious freedom? </div><div><br></div><div>In this episode of Holy Smoke I talk to Andrea Picciotti Bayer, director of the Washington-based Conscience Project, about the continuing ideological assault by US officialdom on religious believers whose passionately held convictions challenge the closest thing the 21st-century United States has to an official creed – identity politics. For the past four years these believers, mostly Christian, have enjoyed an unusual degree of support from the Trump administration, which has prioritised religious liberty both at home and abroad. But is America’s second Catholic president about to pull the rug from under them? And, if so, why? </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>In this episode of Holy Smoke, Damian Thompson says the Vatican's report on allegations of sexual assault by Theodore McCarrick is a whitewash. </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Has there been a single Covid death as a result of someone attending a socially distanced church service? The answer is no, as you'd expect it to be. But, despite this, the Government will ban public acts of worship from Thursday. </div><div><br></div><div>This decision is so perverse that even the Catholic bishops of England and Wales – who fell over each other during the last lockdown in their eagerness to shut churches – have written to the government asking for the scientific evidence indicating that properly supervised Masses pose a threat to the people attending them. So far they haven't received the courtesy of a reply, probably because there is no evidence. </div><div><br></div><div>In this episode of Holy Smoke, Fr David Palmer, a Catholic priest from Nottingham, tells me that his church will be open this Sunday, cleverly exploiting a loophole in the government guidelines. If the police try to stop him saying Mass, or administering any other sacrament, then he's willing to be arrested. Other clergy, including some in the Church of England, have taken the same decision.</div><div><br></div><div>Listen to the interview and ask yourself: why is the government targeting religious believers in such a cruel and scientifically illiterate fashion? And is it prepared for the backlash? <br><br><em>Tell us your thoughts on our podcasts and be in for a chance to win a bottle of Pol Roger champagne by filling out our podcast survey. Visit </em><a href="http://spectator.co.uk/podcastsurvey"><em><a href="http://spectator.co.uk/podcastsurvey">spectator.co.uk/podcastsurvey</a></em></a><em>.</em></div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Ask yourself: who are the most vulnerable and marginalised people in British society? My answer would be young adults suffering from learning disabilities, who attract sympathy when they are children but, once they enter their 20s, simply drop off the map of public consciousness The consequences of this are dreadful: 95 per cent of them are unemployed. </div><div><br></div><div>But four years ago that situation began to change, when Rosa Monckton founded Team Domenica, named after her daughter, now aged 25, who has Down's syndrome. Domenica was the last godchild of Diana Princess of Wales, who was a close friend of Rosa's. The two women mixed in the same exclusive social circles: Rosa was the Chief Executive of Tiffany, no less, and I remember first meeting her there at an impossibly smart party in their Bond Street store at some point in the 1990s. (To say that I was a fish out of water is putting it mildly.) </div><div><br></div><div>Years later I watched her shepherding learning-disabled young people across the streets of Brighton in foul weather before organising games of ping-pong in a cheerless church hall. But this was just a small part of her big project: to found a charity that places these young adults in paid employment. </div><div><br></div><div>That was a massive challenge at the time, and even more now – because the cafés founded by Team Domenica and the internships they managed to secure for their trainees disappeared during the Covid lockdown. So now Rosa and her team have a new mountain to climb, because even after limited re-opening the charity's income is down by 50 per cent. </div><div><br></div><div>Please listen to my Holy Smoke interview with Rosa, who is married to The Spectator's brilliant former editor Dominic Lawson. You won't forget it in a hurry – though she wisely declines to comment on my opinion that there's a huge and shameful gulf between Team Domenica and charities like it and virtue-signalling pressure groups that specialise in spending taxpayers' money and generally being fashionable. </div><div><br></div><div>And, please, donate to Team Domenica <a href="https://www.teamdomenica.com/">here</a>. </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>There was a point in the Watergate scandal when revelations came so thick and fast that journalists struggled to keep up with them. And we seem to have reached an equivalent point in respect to the scandals engulfing Pope Francis's Vatican.</div><div> </div><div>Last week I interviewed Vatican expert Ed Condon about the sacking of Cardinal Angelo Becciu, accused by the Pope of stealing or misusing unimaginable sums of Church money, something he denies. Since Ed and I spoke, there have been two developments, both in their own way hard to believe. </div><div> </div><div>First, Angelo Becciu is now accused of overseeing the transfer of large amounts of money to Australia during the trial on fabricated sex abuse charges of his arch-adversary Cardinal George Pell, who had rumbled him. </div><div> </div><div>Second, the Pope has announced the setting up of a commission to decide which Vatican financial transactions should remain confidential. And, incredibly, the man he has asked to run it is Cardinal Kevin Farrell, formerly one of the closest associates of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the pathological sex abuser who was for many years Archbishop of Washington. </div><div> </div><div>To quote the title of Lionel Shriver's celebrated novel, we really need to talk about Kevin. Listen to this episode to discover why. </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>The Vatican is this week in the grip of a paranoia reminiscent of the days when Renaissance popes (and their dinner guests) were forced to employ food-tasters. </div><div><br></div><div>Cardinal Angelo Becciu, until 2018 the <em>sostenuto</em> at the Secretariat of State – that is, the Pope's hugely powerful chief of staff – has been sacked by Francis, who has accused him of stealing vast amounts of money. The Pope, who once showered him with favours, stripped Becciu of all the privileges associated with the position of cardinal – a twist of the knife worthy of a Netflix drama, or perhaps one of the <em>Godfather </em>films. </div><div><br></div><div>And now, in an equally extraordinary sequel, Becciu's arch-foe Cardinal George Pell, until recently languishing in an Australian jail cell, is heading back to Rome to advise Francis on resuming the Pell financial reforms that Becciu torpedoed.</div><div><br></div><div>My guest for this episode of Holy Smoke is the journalist who can take the most credit for uncovering Becciu's activities: Ed Condon, Washington Bureau Chief of the Catholic News Agency.</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>Boris Johnson's package of Covid restrictions announced this week included a rule that weddings will be limited to 15 people and funerals to 30 – numbers plucked out of thin air that will have questionable effect on the transmission of the virus. <br><br>You might think that a ruling that affects only weddings and funerals isn't such a big deal for the churches, but that is to underestimate the fanatical zeal of their leaders for implementing, and expanding, restrictions on their own worship. The control-freak Archbishop of Canterbury, predictably, seemed <a href="https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2020/25-september/news/uk/weddings-shrink-again-as-new-covid-rules-kick-in">quite thrilled</a> by the government's intervention. <br><br> My own reaction, informed by conversations with many clergy outraged by their bishops' baffling willingness to accept any curtailment of church life, was to wonder whether some Christians will be forced to 'go underground' – that is, find a way of worshipping that quietly disobeys their own leaders. To an extent this is already happening: at the height of the pandemic, Catholics were holding secret Masses that reminded me of their ancestors' defiance of Protestant penal laws. I didn't report it because I didn't want them hunted down by their own 'fathers in God', the local bishops. <br><br> So that's the subject of this week's Holy Smoke, a very wide-ranging conversation with Dr Gavin Ashenden of the sort that you would never hear on the BBC.</div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

<div>The row over the evisceration of Westminster Cathedral Choir has erupted again. The cathedral's excellent music administrator, Madeline Smith, has resigned from her post, accusing the choir school – which, incredibly, is the ultimate source of the threat to the choir's musical standards – of misleading parents and creating a 'toxic' atmosphere that drove out the master of music, Martin Baker. </div><div> </div><div>This week's Holy Smoke gives you the background to the story and argues that the downgrading of Westminster Cathedral Choir is an act of spiritual as well as musical vandalism. There's a powerful contribution from Dr Gavin Ashenden, a former chaplain to the Queen and former chorister at Canterbury Cathedral. </div><div> </div><div>The choir isn't singing at the moment, because of Covid: Westminster Cathedral has been predictably craven in its response to the pandemic, embracing and adding to the Government's control-freakery. When services resume, we can expect the long-planned dumbing down of the world's premier Catholic choir to be blamed on the virus. Don't believe a word of it – and please listen to the podcast. </div><p>Become a <em>Spectator </em>subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/follow-your-podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/adfree</a> to find out more.</p><br><p>For more <em>Spectator</em> podcasts, go to <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/podcasts/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">spectator.co.uk/podcasts</a>. </p><br><p>Contact us: [email protected]</p> <hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>