Where do U.S. politics and Catholicism intersect? On this week’s roundtable episode, “Jesuitical” host Ashley McKinless speaks with America’s chief correspondent, Kevin Clarke, and Father Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest and senior analyst at Religion News Service, about today’s “signs of the times.” Together, Ashley, Kevin and Father Reese discuss Pope Leo’s health post-cancer surgery, immigrant detention as a religious liberty issue, the death penalty and how these all tie into how Catholics are feeling about politics ahead of the midterm elections.

*Note: After this was recorded, the Vatican announced that Pope Leo needs no further cancer treatment. Read the latest here: https://www.americamagazine.org/vatican-dispatch/2026/10/21/pope-leo-cancer-test-results-treatment

Chapters:

00:00 Our topics this week
1:19 Pope Leo health update
6:22 Pope calls Putin and Zelensky
11:50 Archdiocese sues Trump administration
15:52 Religious liberty and the Sacraments
20:20 Catholics denounce public execution
26:40 Catholics are souring on Trump
31:51 A Pope Leo effect in America?

Links from the show:

The Fragility of the Pope https://crc.blog.fordham.edu/faith-religion/the-fragility-of-the-pope/
St. Louis archdiocese sues DHS and ICE to bring sacraments to immigrant detainees https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/weekly-dispatch/2026/10/08/st-louis-archdiocese-lawsuit-dhs-catholic-sacraments-immigrant-detainees/
The death of the American conscience will be livestreamed https://www.americamagazine.org/short-take/2026/10/09/fort-hood-execution-firing-squad-hegseth-livestream/
USCCB President Condemns Plans for Livestream of Fort Hood Shooter's Execution as ‘a Barbaric Promotion of a Culture of Death’ https://www.usccb.org/news/2026/usccb-president-condemns-plans-livestream-fort-hood-shooters-execution-barbaric-promotion
Pope Francis: ‘death penalty inadmissible’ https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2018-08/pope-francis-cdf-ccc-death-penalty-revision-ladaria.html
Pew: Trump’s support among Catholic voters drops heading into midterms https://www.americamagazine.org/news/2026/10/14/pew-catholic-vote-trump-midterms/
How Catholics have defended free elections—and why they must do so again https://www.americamagazine.org/features/2026/07/27/trump-threat-elections-democracy-catholic-church/

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