The Religion and Ethics Report - Separate stories podcast

Humanitarian aid is trickling back into Gaza, after the Israeli government allowed a small number of trucks to enter the enclave. The prospect of starvation looms over the enclave. A permanent ceasefire in Gaza – not yet on the table – is only the first step to ending the crisis. Does the two-state solution have any future? Veteran peace negotiators Israeli GERSHON BASKIN and Palestinian SAMER SINIJLAWI are heading to Australia with the New Israel Fund to discuss prospects. GUESTS:Gershon Baskin is an Israeli columnist, social and political activist. Samer Sinijlawi is a Palestinian political activist and the founding chairman of the Jerusalem Development FundBoth will be guests of the New Israel Fund Australia

So what’s in a name. When it comes to the papacy, almost everything.The name a new pope chooses can reveal a lot about his thinking and plans for the Catholic church.DAN HITCHENS recognised the significance of the name as soon as he heard it announced from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica.A Pope Leo XIV will be inaugurated this weekend with a special Mass, but he’s already noticed a huge in-tray on his desk at the Vatican. What will he prioritise? Dr MILES PATTENDEN has some ideas.In a new book, Voice For The Voiceless, the Dalai Lama reveals that his reincarnated successor could be born in what he calls “the free world”.It would break with centuries of tradition – and raise the stakes in the dispute with China over control of the Himalayan region that the Dalai Lama fled in 1959.It also raises the intriguing prospect of the next Dalai Lama being found in Australia.GUESTS:Dr MILES PATTENDEN is a papal historian and commentator at Oxford University. DAN HITCHENS is a senior editor at First Things and a columnist at Compact magazines.DR ZOE BEDFORD is the Executive officer from The Australia Tibet Council.

Religion specialist Noel Debien speaks with Eparch’s vicar general Fr Simon Ckuj, who accompanied Cardinal Mykola Bychok CSrR, Eparch of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in Australia and Oceania to Rome for the conclave.Cardinal Bychock was made the Catholic Church’s youngest cardinal by Pope Francis on 7 December 2024.Father Ckuj relates what the appointment of Pope Leo means for Australian Catholics and particularly to the Ukrainian diaspora.

Pope Leo XIV will be inaugurated this weekend with a special Mass, but he’s already noticed a huge in-tray on his desk at the Vatican.Pope Francis was a beloved figure in much of the church, and the world, but his papacy was divisive among some Catholics and he left many issues unresolved. So what are the priorities for Leo? Dr MILES PATTENDEN is a papal historian and commentator at Oxford University. 

In April, a new book by the 14th Dalai Lama was published called “Voice For The Voiceless: Over Seven decades of struggle with China for my land and my people”.The Dalai Lama reveals that his reincarnated successor could be born in what he calls “the free world”.It would break with centuries of tradition – and raise the stakes in the dispute with China over control of the Himalayan region that the Dalai Lama fled in 1959.It also raises the intriguing prospect of the next Dalai Lama being found in Australia.Dr Zoe Bedford is the Executive officer from The Australia Tibet Council.

So what’s in a name. When it comes to the papacy, almost everything.The name a new pope chooses can reveal a lot about his thinking and plans for the Catholic church.Cardinal Robert Prevost chose Leo XIV – a pope whose teachings on social and economic justice are felt today.DAN HITCHENS is a senior editor at First Things and a columnist at Compact magazines. He recognised the significance of the name as soon as he heard it announced from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica.

American Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost has been elected as the next Supreme Pontiff and spiritual leader of the Catholic Church.The 267th pontiff, Pope Leo XIV, is a member of the Augustinian religious order and the first American-Peruvian pope.Andrew West hosts this special edition of Radio National's Religion and Ethics Report and he is joined by papal experts, both in Rome and in Australia to discuss the historic election of Pope Leo XIV and what this appointment means for the future of the Catholic Church.GUESTS:Claire Giangravé, Vatican Correspondent for the Religion News Service (currently in Rome)Dr Maeve Heaney, Director of the Xavier Centre for Theological Formation at the Australian Catholic UniversityDr Miles Pattenden, historian of the Catholic Church at Oxford University (currently in Rome)Professor Massimo Faggioli, author, historian and Professor of Theology at Villanova University, US Noel Debien, Religion Specialist, Radio National/Compass (currently in Rome)

From St Peters Square, across from the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican,  NOEL DEBIEN speaks to Austen Ivereigh,  a UK-based writer and journalist who has written extensively on and with Pope Francis, and is a well known commentator on the convictions of the Catholic Church.He shares his insights into the secrecy, intrigue and drama of the conclave and the world of the Vatican

Back in Rome, ABC Religion specialist NOEL DEBIEN discusses the factors that will influence the cardinals as they choose a new pope. 

Why did the Coalition perform so poorly among multicultural voters, even though many communities are highly religious, socially conservative and committed to a small business ethic that aligns well with Liberal Party values? The Liberals’ most successful leader with ethnic voters, former NSW Premier BARRY O’FARRELL, who notched a stunning victory winning 65 percent of the vote in 2011, has some lessons for his party.