Edward Pentin, the distinguished English Catholic journalist and veteran Rome correspondent, returns to Merely Catholic to discuss the conclusion of the pontificate of Pope Francis and the new reign of Pope Leo XIV. An acknowledged media expert on the workings of the papacy and of the Vatican in general, in 2015 he authored The Rigging of a Vatican Synod? An Investigation into Alleged Manipulation at the Extraordinary Synod on the Family, which was published by Ignatius Press, and five years later brought out The Next Pope — The Leading Cardinal Candidates, thanks to Sophia Institute Press. Mr Pentin serves today as a senior correspondent for the National Catholic Register and is also a regular contributor to EWTN, the Catholic television network. https://thomasmorecollege.edu/

The award winning former Catholic Herald editor William Cash joins Dr Gavin Ashenden from Rome to discuss the forthcoming conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis in this 100th Merely Catholic podcast. They discuss how Francis came to be elected, reflect on the invisible machinations already under way to choose the next pope, and they consider several of those members of the College of Cardinals who are drawing attention from the world’s media because they are “papabile”, or worthy to hold the papal office. Our sponsor: https://thomasmorecollege.edu/

Journalist and author Simon Caldwell returns to Merely Catholic to discuss his new thriller, Lady Mabel’s Gold, with Dr Gavin Ashenden in this 99th episode. A standalone sequel to The Beast of Bethulia Park, the author’s 2022 debut, Lady Mabel’s Gold has been praised by former Catholic Herald editor William Cash as a “truly original novel with excellent writing, clever plot twists and a cast of memorable characters which put Caldwell at the front rank of Catholic novelists today”. Dr Ashenden talks to Caldwell about his characters, themes and inspirations and both read from the book for the first time publicly. https://www.gracewing.co.uk/page416.html

Tim Dieppe, the head of public policy at Christian Concern, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 97th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, to discuss his new book, The Challenge of Islam. This book discusses the increasing influence of Islam in the UK and how non-Muslims might respond. Chapters include: “Is Islam a Religion of Peace?”, “Is Islam Antisemitic?”, “What's wrong with Multiculturalism?”, and “What’s wrong with Islamic Finance?” The book concludes with some policy proposals that would make a difference. In their conversation, Mr Dieppe and Dr Ashenden also confront the theological question of whether Allah is the same as the God of the Bible.

Conservative Party peer Lord (Nigel) Biggar CBE, the Regius Professor Emeritus of Moral Theology at the University of Oxford and an Anglican priest, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 96th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald. Lord Biggar, an Oxford-educated historian and author of the 2023 book Colonialism: A Moral Reckoning, reflects on the plan by the Church of England to pay £100 million in reparations for its role in the transatlantic slave trade following criticism in a new report for Policy Exchange that such policies are based on a defective process which “embedded activism rather than balance”. He gives Dr Ashenden a more nuanced account of the British Empire and its expansion and of the conduct of several of the important figures involved in its creation.

Rod Dreher’s close friendship with U.S. Vice President JD Vance is the subject of this 96th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald. He and Dr Gavin Ashenden discuss Mr Vance’s shocking accusation in a landmark speech at the Munich that the greatest threat to European security is not posed by Russia or China but by the European elites, and the extent to which Europe is “changing sides” with its ideological opponents of the Cold War. An American author who now lives in Budapest, Hungary, Mr Dreher is perhaps best known for The Benedict Option, his 2017 book about how Christians might prepare themselves for a new dark age. It was one of three New York Times best-sellers, with Live Not By Lies and The Little Way of Ruthie Leming. His latest book, Living in Wonder: Finding Mystery and Meaning in a Secular Age, was published last year. Our sponsor: thomasmorecollege.edu

The rapid promotion by Pope Francis of Cardinal Robert McElroy as the new Archbishop of Washington DC has astonished many within the Catholic Church. Mark Lambert, the author of a popular blog called De Omnibus Dubitandum Est and a regular on the Catholic Unscripted YouTube channel, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 95th episode of Merely Catholic to analyse what might lie behind the motivations of the Holy See in choosing Cardinal McElroy to lead such an important see, placing the appointment in the context of the crises currently afflicting the Catholic Church and western civilisation more generally.

Dr Calum Miller, a medical doctor working within the NHS, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 93rd episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald. Dr Miller graduated from the University of Oxford Medical School in 2015. As a researcher at the University of Oxford, he has published more than 30 academic papers in medicine, law, philosophy and ethics – examining such complex subjects as examined include foetal sentience, and abortion and mental health - and has won prizes for his work in bioethics from the University of Oxford and the Royal Psychiatry of Medicine In this podcast, Dr Miller describes his journey of discovery and discusses how his concern for the vulnerable and belief in true equality led him to a robust, enduring and defensible pro-life position in the face of moves to further liberalise abortion and legalise euthanasia.

Following the enforced resignation of Justice Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury, numerous assessments have been made about his role in the post. Today, Gavin Ashenden is joined by an authoritative Anglican commentator from America, Canon George Conger. George is both an Episcopalian clergyman and a journalist. He is the author some 6,000 articles . His work has appeared in the Guardian, the Times, the Telegraph and the Washington Post. He was senior corespondent for the Church of England Newspaper for twenty years and a correspondent for the Jerusalem Post for nearly as long. He runs one of the most famous websites in the Anglican world,Anglican Ink, and has known personally most of the English Archbishops as well a the Primates of the Anglican Communion. Famous for his shrewd and perceptive assessments, he joins Merely Catholic today to make an assessment of Welby’s tenure. Trigger warning; Not for the delicate.

This week, Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined by Karen Anstiss, the service manager for Caritas Bakhita House, a safe house in London for trafficked and exploited women which is run by the Catholic Church. A former police officer, Miss Anstiss charts the origins of the project 10 years ago as part of a broader response to the “endemic and deeply embedded” global problem of an estimated 50 million people trapped in modern-day slavery, a scourge described by Pope Francis as a “wound in the body of humanity and therefore in the body of Christ himself” She goes on to describe the pioneering work of Bakhita House, which since 2015 has given sanctuary to 188 women, aged between 15 and 70, who are drawn from 49 countries and who are overwhelmingly the victims of sexual exploitation or serious sexual assault.

The Catholic novelist Fiorella De Maria discusses Catholic literature for Christmas with Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 91st episode of Merely Catholic. Fiorella tells how she wrote her first book in the summer after graduating from university before she went on to publish about a dozen books with San Francisco-based Ignatius Press and to win the Book Prize of Malta. Her works include acclaimed murder mysteries, biographies of saintly and heroic figures and even a recent foray into horror with This Thing of Darkness, a story she co-authored with KV Turley. She and Dr Ashenden discuss her inspirations, her observations about what makes a Catholic novelist, the threat of cancel culture. Finally she offers a few suggestions for good stocking fillers this Christmas. Check out our sponsor: https://jpcatholic.edu/landingpages/c...

Ann Widdecombe, the former Conservative Party minister, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden in this 90th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, to discuss the resignation of Justin Welby as Archbishop of Canterbury and the future of the Church of England. Miss Widdecombe, who, like Dr Ashenden was a member of the Church of England before converting to the Catholic faith, charts the leadership difficulties and challenges which have split Anglicans in the last 30 years and discuss the prospects of reconciliation. She and Dr Ashenden consider the strong possibility that the next leader of the Church of England and the Worldwide Anglican Communion will, for the first time in history, be a woman.

In this 89th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, Rod Dreher talks to Dr Gavin Ashenden about his new book, Living in Wonder: Finding Mystery and Meaning in a Secular Age. With increasing numbers of young people in the West seeking spirituality in esoteric religions or the Occult, Mr Dreher argues that the Church must act urgently to rediscover and better express the mysterious beauty of the Catholic faith that has animated and inspired the lives of so many saints. An American author who now lives in Budapest, Hungary, Mr Dreher is perhaps best known for The Benedict Option, his 2017 book about how Christians might prepare themselves for a new dark age. It was one of three New York Times best-sellers, with Live Not By Lives and The Little Way of Ruthie Leming.

Professor David Albert Jones, the director of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, Oxford, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 88th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald. They discuss the rush to assisted suicide ahead of a crucial vote to legalise the practice in the House of Commons on November 29 and the horrible realities of what a change of the law will mean. Professor Jones is the winner of the Paul Ramsey Award for Excellence in Bioethics, and in 2017 he co-edited Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide: Lessons from Belgium with Chris Gastmans and Calum MacKellar.

Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined for this 87th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, by Andrew Jacoby, an American businessman and entrepreneur. Mr Jacoby, who converted to the Catholic faith from the Judaism of his youth and the “hedonistic lifestyle” of his later years when he travelled the world as a musician, explains how he was ultimately drawn to the Church by “the truth”. He tells of his dalliance with “New Age” and Eastern esotericism, which took him down “down some dark paths” until he rediscovered the stories of the Bible and found that his perspective on life had been altered profoundly.

Dom Alcuin Reid, the distinguished Australian Benedictine who founded the Monastère Saint-Benoît in Fréjus-Toulon, France, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 86th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald. Dom Alcuin is an internationally-recognised expert on the liturgy, having published and lectured on the subject extensively. Among his works are The Organic Development of the Liturgy, which included a preface by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, and The Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described. He and Dr Ashenden discuss the liturgical revolutions that have taken place in the last half century, the “overt persecution of that which is good and of God”, and how the “ideology and politics of a passing generation” may be in their dying throes.

Dr Gavin Ashenden is joined on Merely Catholic this week by Dr Derry Connolly, the founding president of John Paul the Great Catholic University, California. Dr Connolly charts his journey from his youth in rural County Cork, Ireland, and a career in engineering and technology in Los Angeles to the moment when “God put it in my heart” to establish a “radically different” Catholic university in San Diego to harness the power of beauty to transform contemporary culture, and how he was able to realise his vision in spite of setting out with no funds. In this 85th episode of the podcast series for The Catholic Herald, Dr Connolly also discusses with Dr Ashenden what a Catholic university is, and how John Paul the Great might form Catholics for Hollywood. To find out more about John Paul the Great Catholic University visit: https://jpcatholic.edu/landingpages/catholicherald/

The Rt Rev. Joseph Strickland, the former Bishop of Tyler, Texas, who was “relieved” of his duties by Pope Francis last year, joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for this 84th episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald They discuss his removal from office and the post-modern assault on truth in the Church and in the world, and other subjects including the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, the Francis papacy and the Rupnik scandal. In the podcast, Bishop Strickland also explains why Christians have a fundamental duty to be heed and be obedient to the truth, warning the faithful that “false messages fall to dust”.

Our guest for this 83rd episode of Merely Catholic, the podcast series for the Catholic Herald, is Fr Michael Ward, the English literary critic and theologian and an internationally recognised expert on the writings of CS Lewis. Perhaps best known for his 2010 book Planet Narnia, Fr Ward is an associate member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford, and Professor of Apologetics at Houston Christian University. He played the role of a vicar in The Most Reluctant Convert, the CS Lewis biopic. He has also reviewed films and plays for the Catholic Herald and other media. He talks to Dr Gavin Ashenden about why Lewis continues to appeal to millions of Catholics and to discuss where Lewis’s theology would fit in today’s ecclesial landscape.

Holly Ordway joins Dr Gavin Ashenden for the 82nd episode of Merely Catholic to discuss the Catholicism of JRR Tolkien, the author of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. She is the Cardinal Francis George Professor of Faith and Culture at the Word on Fire Institute and Visiting Professor of Apologetics at Houston Christian University. Her book Tolkien’s Modern Reading: Middle-earth Beyond the Middle Ages (Word on Fire Academic, 2021) received the 2022 Mythopoeic Society Scholarship Award in Inklings Studies. Her newest book is Tolkien’s Faith: A Spiritual Biography, which was released in time for the 50th anniversary of Tolkien’s death on September 2nd, 202 and can be purchased from on Amazon US and Blackwell’s Books and Amazon UK.