The Pillar Podcast

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JD seeks some advice.

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JD and Ed debate recent comments by Algeria’s Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco’s recent comments about the Catholic Church’s relationship with Muslim and Jewish believers.

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Ed is joined by Stephen White, executive director of the St. John Paul II National Shrine, fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, and author of ‘Red, White, Blue, and Catholic.’

The ‘Catholic vote’ has long been a reliable bellwether for U.S. elections. But the 2024 presidential election was an anomaly. Ed and Stephen talk about what might have triggered the change, and the future of the Catholic vote.

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Show notes:

The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts, and the Disregard for Human Life by Ramesh Ponnuru

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JD and Ed debate a coaching decision.

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JD and Ed talk about reports that AI is coming to the Archbishop Fulton Sheen Museum in Peoria, IL. Then, they talk about some news out of the Archdiocese of Detroit this week.

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Ft. Wrestling Chat.

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JD and Ed briefly recap their time at last week’s conference for the Canon Law Society of America. They talk about Pope Leo XIV’s lung cancer diagnosis and what it might mean for his pontificate. Then, they talk about Bishop Erik Varden’s essay addressing Amoris Laetitia.

Laetitiae Amor, by Bishop Erik Varden

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Pope Leo XIV, pictured on Sept. 7, 2025. Credit: © Mazur/cbcew.org.uk.

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JD is joined by Father James Martin to talk about his work with Catholics who identify as gay, his new memoir, and more.

Then, Fr. Martin plays a round of bridges ‘Yes or No?’

This conversation was recorded July 8, 2026.

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Show notes:

Work in Progress: Confessions of a busboy, dishwasher, caddy, usher, factory worker, bank teller, corporate tool, and priest by Father James Martin

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Many choices are being made.

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Ed’s choice of news this week! He and JD talk about a curial snub and Pope Leo XIV’s meeting to mark the 10th anniversary of Amoris laetitia.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin. Credit: Claude Truong-Ngoc/wikimedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

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They got the hats, at least!

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JD and Ed talk about the final report issued by the Vatican’s synod on synodality’s commission charged with suggesting changes to the Code of Canon Law, and why they think Pope Leo XIV needs to respond.

Then, they look ahead to Leo’s planned meeting on Amoris laetitia with the heads of international bishops’ conferences.

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JD Flynn is joined by Bishop William Wack, CSC, of Pensacola–Tallahassee to talk about his experience serving in prison ministry and common catalysts for conversion for the incarcerated. Then, Bishop Wack weighs JD and Ed’s idea for a personal ordinariate for prison ministry.

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JD and Ed are St. Louis this week for the beatification of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.

A very special thank you to our guest producer Kyle Heimann.

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What would you do?

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JD and Ed speculate what could be on the horizon for the Diocese of Steubenville.

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Ed is joined by Aaron Dominguez, Ph.D., a particle physicist and former provost at The Catholic University of America.

Aaron talks about his time at the CERN laboratory and fields Ed’s questions about the relationship between faith and science, dark matter, and extraterrestrial life.

This conversation was recorded before Dominguez left his role as provost in August 2026.

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Summer’s over in Rome! Ed is joined by Pillar Rome correspondent Edgar Beltrán to talk about the papal appointments that may be in the pipeline.

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Ed recaps the FBI memo about “radical traditionalist Catholics.”

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JD and Ed get sucked into some Little League chat.

Then, Pope Leo XIV is widely expected to name some new cardinals in the coming weeks. JD and Ed debate Pope Leo’s most likely and least likely picks.

Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel. Credit: Vatican Media.

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