Welcome to Inside American Politics with Bradley Teller. In this episode — The Vatican Files: Power, Politics, and the Pope — we pull back the curtain on one of the most surprising players in modern U.S. public life: the Vatican.
Most Americans think of the Pope as a spiritual leader. But he is also the head of the Holy See — a diplomatic and political actor with unique global reach. We unpack how that reach plays out in American politics: how papal statements shaped the 2016 presidential contests; why Bernie Sanders was invited to lecture at the Vatican; how progressive groups tried to turn the “Francis effect” into votes; and the bigger consequences of Catholic influence on the U.S. Supreme Court and public policy.
Inside this episode:
• The Trinity of Power — why the Pope, the Holy See, and Vatican City are very different institutions and how that difference creates diplomatic leverage.
• The Trump Confrontation — Pope Francis’s public rebukes, the political fallout in 2016, and why behavior meant to curb a candidate sometimes strengthened him.
• The Bernie Vatican Summit — what the Sanders–Francis moment reveals about ideology, moral authority, and presidential politics.
• The Democratic Playbook — how politicians and advocacy groups translate papal remarks into campaign strategy.
• The Catholic Takeover of the Court — why a court with a Catholic supermajority mattered for Dobbs and how Catholic legal networks shaped elite legal culture.
• The Cuba Gambit — a case study in Vatican back-channel diplomacy and how Rome brokered talks Washington couldn’t easily run itself.
• The Francis Doctrine — why Francis’s critique of capitalism, militarism, and borders rattles U.S. elites and shifts global alignments.
• The Future — how Vatican power is changing and what it might mean for American politics ahead.
We end with a look at the modest but real way an ancient religious institution can alter 21st-century statecraft — sometimes quietly, sometimes with headlines. If you’re curious about how faith, law, and diplomacy collide in Washington, this episode is for you.
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