NonZero Newsletter
Robert Wright's Nonzero
Pope Francis, Peacemaker or Appeaser? | NonZero World feat. Michael Brendan Dougherty
Preview
0:00
-51:45

Pope Francis, Peacemaker or Appeaser? | NonZero World feat. Michael Brendan Dougherty

Plus: Trump's quiet threat to free speech

This episode includes an Overtime segment that’s available to paid subscribers. If you’re not a paid subscriber, we of course encourage you to become one. If you are a paid subscriber, you can access the complete conversation either via the audio and video on this post or by setting up the paid-subscriber podcast feed, which includes all exclusive audio content. To set that up, simply grab the RSS feed from this page (by first clicking the “...” icon on the audio player) and paste it into your favorite podcast app.

If you have trouble completing the process, check out this super-simple how-to guide.

0:00 The new NonZero World
1:21 Headlines
4:36 Stories of the week
17:19 Michael Brendan Dougherty on Pope Francis' foreign policy legacy
18:55 Michael: The pope should be a voice for peace
23:44 A European church no more
27:21 Michael: The Vatican went too far in deal with China
37:07 How the Holy See helped Obama reach out to Cuba
44:37 The pope's moral clarity on Gaza
48:44 A restrainer in the Vatican?

Recorded April 25, 2025.

Read this week's edition of the Earthling:

https://twitter.com/NonzeroNews
https://twitter.com/NonzeroPods

Discussed in Overtime:

How the next pope might approach foreign policy.
Cardinal Pizzaballa's remarkable Gaza exchange offer.
Ending the church's "civil war."
Chaos at the Pentagon.
The intra-GOP foreign policy battle.

Overtime video:

This post is for paid subscribers