Damian Thompson

Last week The Spectator held a live event entitled ‘Recovering the Sacred’ in the glorious surroundings of St Bartholomew the Great, the oldest parish church in the City of London. The speakers included two London parish priests – one Anglican, one Catholic – who have contributed much to the growing interest among young people in traditional liturgy and Christian theology, a development that the hierarchy of their respective churches certainly didn’t foresee. They were the Rev Marcus Walker, Rector of St Bart’s, whose Prayer Book Evensongs and Eucharists attract large numbers of young professionals to his ancient church; and Fr Julian Large, the Provost of the Brompton Oratory, where an increasingly youthful congregation flocks to Latin Masses.

Bijan Omrani joins Damian Thompson to talk about his new book God is an Englishman: Christianity and the Creation of England. They discuss the spiritual and cultural debt the country owes to Christianity. The central question of Bijan’s book is ‘does it matter that Christianity is dying in England?’. The faith has historically played a disproportionate role in many areas of English life that we take for granted now – for example, by shaping both charity and the welfare state. Yet this is influence is often ignored as congregations shrink and the UK slides into secularism. But are there unexpected grounds for hope?

After Pope Francis died, it took the Roman Catholic Church just 17 days to choose a successor in Pope Leo XIV. It has been well over 6 months since Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigned and we are only just making sense of those chosen to sit on the Crown Nominations Commission (CNC), that will recommend his successor. Even then, it’s unlikely we will know more until the autumn. Why has it taken so long? Journalist, commentator – and quite frankly expert – Andrew Graystone joins Damian Thompson and William Moore, the Spectator’s features editor, to take listeners through the process.

The papal conclave is due to begin on Wednesday 7 May to elect a successor to Pope Francis. As host Damian Thompson says, Rome – and the entire Church – is in a state of ‘fevered excitement’. While this is to be expected, most commentators agree that this conclave will be one of the most consequential elections for centuries. At stake are both the future direction of the Church and Francis’s legacy – will his work be amended, continued or even rejected? The Pillar’s Luke Coppen joins Damian to try to make sense of the noise, gossip and political intrigue. They discuss the favourites to emerge as the new Pope, including Parolin, Pizzaballa and Sarah. Who is likely to succeed Francis? Produced by Patrick Gibbons and Oscar Edmondson.

Pope Francis, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, has died. The Argentinian, the first Latin American – and the first Jesuit – to lead the Church, has been the head of the Holy See for 12 years, succeeding Pope Benedict XVI who resigned in 2013. Francis presided over the funeral of his predecessor, who died in 2022 – a first in modern history. But Francis’s leadership has been historic for many other reasons. In fact, says Damian Thompson, his reign has been ‘one of the most memorable, if controversial – not just in recent years but in recent centuries’. Liberals lauded his position on a number of social issues, while Conservatives saw the papacy as over-reaching and out of touch with every-day Catholics. But is it really that simple?