Bonus Episode • 2nd May 2025 • The Living Church
With the death of Pope Francis, today’s bonus episode is a reflection on his ministry, particularly as it relates to Christian unity.
Fr. Matthew Olver and Amber Noel chat with Fr. Martin Browne, who serves at the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity. Martin shares his first impressions of the pope and what it was like working for him. We discuss the pope’s choices and charisms, his passion for shared leadership with other Christians, his inability and refusal to fit into a political box, and the fruit this has borne in personal relationships and the global scene, as well as some of the hype, frustration, and bewilderment in the wake of his leadership style and its very public preference for the poor.
We’ll also chat a bit about the movie Conclave and what it might get right and wrong about how the new pope will be selected.
The Rev. Martin Browne, OSB, is a Benedictine monk of Glenstal Abbey in Ireland. He lives at the Primatial Abbey of Sant’ Anselmo in Rome, and serves as an official in the Western Section of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity. In the Dicastery he is the desk officer for relations with the Anglican Communion and the World Methodist Council.
He is also responsible, in collaboration with the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, for preparing the prayers and reflections for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. He serves as the Catholic Co-Secretary of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) and the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commision for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM).
A brief note on when we recorded this: it was just after the pope’s death and before his funeral. So take any details or speculations about the funeral proceedings with a grain of salt.
TLC Podcast: Dispatch from Rome
Amber D. Noel, M.Div., directs the public-facing programs of The Living Church, including the podcast, events, and the Partner program. Outside of work, she is a writer and enjoys life in Atlanta.
