For the first time since the start of the war in Ukraine, Pope Francis received in a private audience this morning a top-ranking member of the Russian Orthodox Church, second only to patriarch Kirill of Moscow.

Pope Francis will travel next month to Kazakhstan, where he could meet with Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, who has supported Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

I get the sense that a monumental moment in history “passed us by” this week when Russia announced on Tuesday that it would withdraw from the International Space Station before the end of the decade.

Colleen and Gerry examine the pope’s rhetorical shift from describing a third world war fought “piecemeal” to a “declared” world war.

This week on “Inside the Vatican,” veteran Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and host Colleen Dulle discuss the religious implications of the Russia-Ukraine war and how it threatens work towards Christian unity.

One of the most fascinating stories of the 20th century belongs to Walter Ciszek, S.J., an American Jesuit priest who spent two decades laboring in the Soviet Union after he was accused of being a Vatican spy.