(Click here to listen on Spotify)

Back on August 12, I had the opportunity to speak with Ellen Taylor and Michele McAloon on Convergence, a radio show where the hosts speak with a wide variety of voices in the Church about the convergence of faith and culture. The podcast is produced by Archangel Radio, an EWTN Radio affiliate in Mobile, Alabama.

This interview was a little different than some I’ve done in the past. Early on in the interview, Ellen and Michele asked questions about papal authority and what constitutes legitimate and illegitimate criticism of a pope. This was an area I was very happy to discuss because I think some of our readers and critics have the mistaken impression that we don’t believe any criticism or disagreement with the pope is legitimate. It is understandable that, as a site dedicated to advancing the mission and vision of Pope Francis, some might be led to believe that we think the pope cannot be criticized. (I also addressed this last year in a piece entitled “The Pope isn’t Perfect.”)

For some added context, during the interview I discussed the controversies surrounding the Argentine Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta. For more information on this case, please see Inés San Martín’s excellent coverage for Crux.

We discussed the difference between disagreement with the pope on doctrinal and prudential matters, and how understanding this difference is essential to remaining in union with the pope and the Church. We also discussed some of the changes to technology that have changed our understanding of the papacy, as well as cultural and personality differences between Francis and some of his predecessors.

Many thanks to Archangel Radio, Michele, and Ellen for making this interview possible. If you enjoyed this podcast, be sure to subscribe to their channel for other thought-provoking discussions!

Enjoy!

Image: Pope Francis, © Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk, License: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0), Source: https://flic.kr/p/Sf3xVf

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Mike Lewis

Mike Lewis is the founding managing editor of Where Peter Is. He and Jeannie Gaffigan co-host Field Hospital, a U.S. Catholic podcast.