History of the Papacy Podcast

The Avignon papacy was an extremely difficult time for the Roman Catholic Church and Western Europe. This is the time when the Bishop of Rome picked up and moved the entire operation to Avignon in the south of France. The period of the Avignon Papacy...

Was Simon Magus the ultimate bad guy or is there more to the story. Simon Magus has been potrayed as the first heretic in Church history, but there is more to the story than meets the eye. In this episode we will look at the background of Simon Magus...

John the Baptist is referred to variously as the precursor, ground layer and forerunner of Jesus. His story is quite well known and is documented in each of the four canonical gospels. In this episode, we will take a closer look at John and see how he...

In this episode we will take a look at the situation of Judaism in the First Century AD. This was an extremely chaotic time in history. We will discuss the religious factions and how they interacted with each other and the Romans. You can learn more...

In this episode we take a look at another important part of the religious situation of the 1st century AD: Mystery religions or mystery cults. We will talk about some of the more popular mystery religions and the influence of the mystery religions on...

In this episode we begin a series on the religious situation in the Roman Empire during the first years of the Christian Movement. We will take a look at the Roman State religion, personal religion and the Cult of Sol Invictus. The early Christian...

Welcome back to the History of the Papacy Podcast. In this episode we will look at the monumental first council of the Church, called the Council of Jerusalem or the Apostolic Council. This was a major event in the early Church and would set the Jesus...

This is the final episode of the Papal Resignation Series. The Papal Conclave of 2013 has wrapped up and there is a new Pope. 700 years another pope resigned, the first Pope to retire. Pope Celestine V was a pious man who found himself in the wrong...

In this episode in the Papal Election Special series, we will take a look at a few of the top contenders to be the next Pope. There are any number of people who could be the next Pope, but we will take a look at some of the Cardinals who are most...

In this episode we will take a look at the current rules that will be followed for the upcoming 2013 Papal election conclave. This will include the places where the Cardinals will stay and meet and the procedures they will follow during the actual...