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It’s not just the Iran war that’s inflamed tension between the Vatican and the White House.  The church has also spoken out against the Trump administration’s aggressive crackdown on irregular immigration.  For the Archbishop of Guam, a US territory in the South Pacific, it’s a personal issue.  Archbishop RYAN JIMENEZ is an immigrant from The Philippines. He’s just been appointed to a top Vatican post and is visiting Australia. GUEST: Archbishop Ryan Jimenez is Archbishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Agaña, Guam

Pope Leo’s showing he won’t by cowed by Donald Trump, who recently attacked him as weak and liberal after papal criticism of the Iran war.  Leo hasn’t directly named the US President but during his visit to Africa, he’s referred to war, tyranny and to “spending billions of dollars on killing and devastation”.   Vice President J.D. Vance, a recent convert to Catholicism, also decided to explain the theology of a “just war” to the pontiff.  Some in the Trump administration even believe they’re waging a holy war.  Where does such language mean and where can it lead?  GUEST: Professor Darius Von Guttner is a Papal historian at the Australian Catholic University link

The name Walter Dexter has faded into history but during World War I he was one of the British empire’s most famous churchmen.  He became most decorated military chaplain ever.  Long before he found his faith in the Anglican Church, he had a rollicking life at sea, plunging into the cultures of Asia and Africa.  Historian DANIEL REYNAUD has just published Sailor, Soldier Vicar Farmer: The Improbable Life of Anzac Chaplain Water Dexter. GUEST: Dr Daniel Reynaud is Emeritus Professor of History at Avondale University and inaugural Visiting Historian at the Anzac Memorial in Sydney's Hyde Park.

Pope Leo’s showing he won’t by cowed by Donald Trump, who recently attacked him as weak and liberal after papal criticism of the Iran war. Leo hasn’t directly named the US President but during his visit to Africa, he’s referred to war, tyranny and to “spending billions of dollars on killing and devastation”.  Vice President J.D. Vance, a recent convert to Catholicism, also decided to explain the theology of a “just war” to the pontiff. Some in the Trump administration even believe they’re waging a holy war. Where does such language mean and where can it lead? Professor DARIUS VON GUTTNER is a papal historian at Australian Catholic University. It’s not just the Iran war that’s inflamed tension between the Vatican and the White House. The church has also spoken out against the Trump administration’s aggressive crackdown on irregular immigration. For the Archbishop of Guam, a US territory in the South Pacific, it’s a personal issue. Archbishop RYAN JIMENEZ is an immigrant from The Philippines. He’s just been appointed to a top Vatican post and is visiting Australia. The name Walter Dexter has faded into history but during World War I he was one of the British empire’s most famous churchmen. He became most decorated military chaplain ever. Long before he found his faith in the Anglican Church, he had a rollicking life at sea, plunging into the cultures of Asia and Africa. Historian DANIEL REYNEAUX has just published Sailor, Soldier Vicar Farmer: The Improbable Life of Anzac Chaplain Water Dexter. GUESTS: Professor Darius Von Guttner is an historian at the Australian Catholic University linkArchbishop Ryan Jimenez is Archbishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Agaña, GuamDr Daniel Reyneaux is Emeritus Professor of History at Avondale University and inaugural Visiting Historian at the Anzac Memorial in Sydney's Hyde Park.

In the occupied West Bank village of Taybeh, radical Jewish settlers continue their campaign to seize the land long owned by one of the last unified Christian communities in Palestine.  Now the Christians are turning to Pope Leo, hoping he’ll visiting their village and ramp up pressure on the Israeli government.  GUEST:  Fr. Bashar Fawadleh Taybeh parish priest Related: Israeli settler and Christian conflict in the West Bank 

Soon after he returns from his 10-day trip to Africa, Pope Leo will finish his first encyclical.  It’s almost certainly on the opportunities -- and dangers -- of artificial intelligence.  The perils of AI, especially on higher education, have prompted Notre Dame University to set up a new Centre for Technology and Human Futures.  GUEST: Associate Professor Victoria Lorrimar is director of The Centre for Technology and Human Futures at the University of Notre Dame

Donald Trump’s onslaught against the Pope is almost overshadowing his first visit to Africa.  The US president accused Leo of being soft on crime, untroubled by the prospect of a nuclear Iran, and in league with the radical left. Trump’s angry about the pope’s repeated criticism of the US and Israeli war on Iran. But Leo says he’s not afraid of Trump. Has there ever been such a deep rift between a pontiff and a major world leader and what are the implications? Vatican historian and commentator Professor MASSIMO FAGGIOLI is with Trinity College, Dublin.  While he was in Algeria, the first stop on his Africa trip, Pope Leo visited the Basilica of St. Augustine. It’s near the ancient ruins of Hippo Regius. He walked in the footsteps of St Augustine of Hippo, who lived around the year 400 AD. Leo’s an Augustinian priest so he was returning to the home of his spiritual father. In the occupied West Bank village of Taybeh, radical Jewish settlers continue their campaign to seize the land long owned by one of the last unified Christian communities in Palestine. Now the Christians are turning to Pope Leo, hoping he’ll visiting their village and ramp up pressure on the Israeli government. The parish priest is Fr. BASHAR FAWADLEH. Soon after he returns from his 10-day trip to Africa, Pope Leo will finish his first encyclical. It’s almost certainly on the opportunities -- and dangers -- of artificial intelligence. The perils of AI, especially on higher education, have prompted Notre Dame University to set up a new Centre for Technology and Human Futures. The director is Associate Professor VICTORIA LORRIMAR.  GUESTS: Professor Massimo Faggioli is professor of ecclesiology at the Loyola Institute at Trinity College DublinFather Bashar Fawadleh is parish priest in Taybeh, a Christian village in the middle of the West Bank in Palestine.Associate Professor Victoria Lorrimar is director of The Centre for Technology and Human Futures at the University of Notre Dame

Donald Trump’s onslaught against the Pope is almost overshadowing his first visit to Africa.   The US president accused Leo of being soft on crime, untroubled by the prospect of a nuclear Iran, and in league with the radical left. Trump’s angry about the pope’s repeated criticism of the US and Israeli war on Iran.  But Leo says he’s not afraid of Trump.  Has there ever been such a deep rift between a pontiff and a major world leader and what are the implications?  GUEST: Vatican historian and commentator Professor MASSIMO FAGGIOLI is with Trinity College, Dublin. 

Andrew West discusses Trump's attack on Pope Leo with James Glenday on ABC Breakfast TV.

Buddhist extremists have been emboldened by religious nationalism in America and beyond. They defy the image of Buddhism and undermine its core teachings.

Pope Leo visits Africa next week on a 10-day tour that will take him to Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea. Buddhist extremists have been emboldened by religious nationalism in America and beyond. They defy the image of Buddhism and undermine its core teachings.

It's 40 years since the Philippine People's Revolution  It was a revolution where barely a shot was fired. Nuns armed with rosary beads helped lead millions of Filipinos in peaceful demonstrations that, 40 years ago, brought down the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.   Ringing in the ears of the people was the voice of a soft-spoken archbishop who urged them to topple a corrupt and increasingly brutal regime.   Just how critical was Cardinal Jaime Sin and the Catholic Church to the People Power revolution?   GUEST:  Dr Jethro Calacday, Filipino historian currently at Cambridge University 

Australia is a country where meat is our national icon — we commune around the barbie and love our meat pies.  Yet, we also have some of the oldest vegetarian societies and earliest western animal cruelty laws.  In the place of The World Today on Good Friday, James Carleton from Radio National’s God Forbid philosopher Professor Rachel Ankeny, author Edgar Crook and theologian Professor David Clough to examine what we eat from cultural, ethical and historical perspectives. GUESTS: Rachel Ankeny is Chair and Professor of Philosophy at Wageningen University.Edgar Crook is author of "Abstainers! – a vegetarian and vegan history of Australia" and "Vegetarianism in Australia 1788 to 1948: A Cultural and Social History."David Clough is Chair in Theology and Applied Sciences at the University of Aberdeen.

In the near future, artificial intelligence could do the thinking, and a robotic combination of human and machine do the lifting. But it’s a potentially dystopic scenario – the poor, the weak, and those who simply believe in humanity as nature intended could be abandoned. These are just some of major ethical challenges posed by so-called transhumanism. Professor JASON EBERL is a bioethicist at St Louis University in Missouri. On the 8th of April, he’ll deliver the annual lecture to the Plunkett Centre for Ethics in Sydney.  Each Easter, we bring you stories from places where war and other disasters can try people’s faith but where, despite great despair, their religious beliefs survive. ASUNTHA CHARLES has worked with the faith-based aid organisation World Vision in Afghanistan under the Taliban and Cox’s Bazaar in Bangladesh, where 1.1 million Rohingya Muslims fled the military regime in Myanmar/Burma. She was in Australia recently with the Micah Women’s Network. Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has backed down after the Vatican and the governments of France, Italy and even the United States protested a decision to block the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pizzaballa, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. After Israel’s president Isaac Herzog intervened, Netanyahu said the cardinal would have access to all holy sites this Easter. A Sydney bishop is set to take up a top Vatican job. Pope Leo has announced Bishop Anthony Randazzo will become the new Prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, meaning he’ll be responsible for interpreting and applying church law throughout the Catholic world. He’ll become the most senior Australian cleric in the Vatican since the late George Pell, who held was Prefect for the economy. And finally, the pope had some pointed words for the residents of the world’s wealthiest state. In a day-long visit to Monaco, where one in three people are millionaires, Leo condemned the “idolatry of power and money” and reminded them Jesus was “an advocate” for the poor and outcast.

In the near future, artificial intelligence could do the thinking, and a robotic combination of human and machine do the lifting.  But it’s a potentially dystopic scenario – the poor, the weak, and those who simply believe in humanity as nature intended could be abandoned.  These are just some of major ethical challenges posed by so-called transhumanism.  GUEST: Professor JASON EBERL is a bioethicist at St Louis University in Missouri. On the 8th of April, he’ll deliver the annual lecture to the Plunkett Centre for Ethics in Sydney.