Welcome to Episode 18 of Season 3 with my colleagues from St. Mark’s College: Dr. Fiona Li, inaugural Archbishop Michael Miller Chair in Catholic Studies, Fr. Nick Meisl, Profess at St. Mark’s College, and Dr. Nick Olkovich, Marie Anne Blondin Chair in Catholic Theology.

In this episode we talk about a new Pope, Pope Leo XIV, a native of the United States and a naturalized citizen of Peru. It’s an exciting time to see a new Pope no matter what, but as the immediate succcessor to Francis and as another Pope from the Americas, this papacy brings a lot of hope and many serious issues to confront within the Church. In the broader world, issues include the degradation of the environment, war in Gaza and Ukraine, rising poverty and wealth concentrated in fewer hands, and the emergence of autocratic nationalism that rejects immigrants.

This is the beginning of the discussion, so join us as we muse, discuss, and speculate!

What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation.

Since St. Mark’s Centre for Christian Engagement seeks to enable the creation of a culture of encounter and dialogue, let me invite you into that discussion. Send me questions, send me ideas for guests, send me comments. Please follow me on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter @biblejunkies, or on Facebook, at Biblejunkies, or on Instagram @biblejunkies. Or email me at [email protected]. Let me know what you think.

I also want to ask you to help out by letting people know about the podcast. If you are enjoying the podcast, please let your friends know. You can also let people know by rating and reviewing What Matters Most on your favourite podcasting platform. This lets people find the podcast more easily and lets people like you enjoy the work that we are doing. I think these are important and inspiring discussions and I would like people to have a chance to listen in!

John W. Martens