Noiser
The Vatican
Play Episode
This episode will be available to listen to for free on 3rd November, 2025. You can listen to it right away by subscribing to Noiser Plus. Head to www.noiser.com/subscriptions for more information.
Enclosed within the city of Rome and spanning just 0.2 square miles, Vatican City is the world’s smallest independent state. Yet within its fortified walls lies a history of immense power - a city that became the beating heart of Catholicism, where popes crowned emperors, defied kings, and shaped the course of world events.
How did this unassuming patch of land rise to become the centre of global faith and authority? What scandals, schisms, and sacrifices threatened to tear it apart? And why, even today, does this ancient enclave still hold sway over more than a billion lives?
This is a Short History Of The Vatican.
A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Father Michael Collins, author of multiple books on the Vatican and Christianity, including The Vatican – Secrets and Treasures of the Holy City.
Written by Olivia Jordan | Produced by Kate Simants | Assistant Producer: Nicole Edmunds | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Oliver Sanders | Assembly edit by Dorry Macaulay, Rob Plummer | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw | Fact check: Sean Coleman