Aug 31, 2026 · 1 hr 9 min · 10 segments
In this episode of The Catholic Talk Show, Ryan is joined by JD Flynn of The Pillar to explore how powerful the Vatican really is. From China and Pope Leo’s relationship with President Trump to the…
J.D. FlynnGuestRyan ScheelHostIt's like, well, once somebody thought it was a good idea and maybe it was good for them, but they didn't see the kind of full picture.
Or is it really just a bunch of, you know, 70-year-old men doing their best, trying to live their faith and fulfilling their offices?
You know, you've worked in offices and like, you know, it's the kind of thing at the end of the year, you have to spend everything that you budgeted or else you won't get it next year.
There are all kinds of things like that going on in the Roman Curia where there's a sort of departmental self-protection that can prevent.
And oftentimes, again, even without malice, just with like this sort of habituation to bureaucratic thinking that comes over time and working in an institution like that, that can prevent the Pope from seeing the whole board.
And that makes it hard even to, you know, I think Francis in good faith tried to enact some reforms there and was moderately successful at best.
Yeah, we've experienced that firsthand in our work with Fusati, you know, our marketing agency and design agency.
We've done some work with the Vatican, different departments throughout the Vatican and different dicasteries.
And there's been times where it'll be December and it's like, we need to allocate this budget.
It's like, well, once somebody thought it was a good idea and maybe it was good for them, but they didn't see the kind of full picture.
Or is it really just a bunch of, you know, 70-year-old men doing their best, trying to live their faith and fulfilling their offices?
You know, you've worked in offices and like, you know, it's the kind of thing at the end of the year, you have to spend everything that you budgeted or else you won't get it next year.
There are all kinds of things like that going on in the Roman Curia where there's a sort of departmental self-protection that can prevent.
And oftentimes, again, even without malice, just with like this sort of habituation to bureaucratic thinking that comes over time and working in an institution like that, that can prevent the Pope from seeing the whole board.
And that makes it hard even to, you know, I think Francis in good faith tried to enact some reforms there and was moderately successful at best.
Yeah, we've experienced that firsthand in our work with Fusati, you know, our marketing agency and design agency.
We've done some work with the Vatican, different departments throughout the Vatican and different dicasteries.
And there's been times where it'll be December and it's like, we need to allocate this budget.
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