On this Monday's Catholic Morning Show, Deacon Mark Campbell explores the Eucharistic life of Saint Jerome with Benedictine monk and author Fr. Basil Nixen, whose new book uncovers the deep historical roots behind the legend of Jerome's last communion. Then, Catholic influencer and digital creator Ana Munley joins to unpack Pope Leo XIV's landmark encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, offering a creator's perspective on how AI is reshaping human imagination, online culture, and the Catholic call to engage the digital world. Together, these conversations invite Catholics to recover reverence for the Eucharist, embrace Scripture, and engage technology with wisdom rooted in the dignity of the human person.
This Monday on the Catholic Morning Show, Deacon Mark Campbell brings two compelling conversations that speak directly to where the Church meets culture in 2026.
First, Fr. Basil Nixen — a Benedictine monk of the Monastery of San Benedetto in Norcia, Italy — joins the show to discuss his new book, The Last Communion of Saint Jerome, published by TAN Books. Fr. Nixen traces the historical and spiritual roots behind the famous Renaissance artistic tradition of Jerome receiving his final communion, showing that the legend — long dismissed by scholars — actually reflects authentic dimensions of Jerome's life: his fierce love for the Eucharist, his devotion to Scripture, his Marian piety, and his commitment to the purity of the faith. Fr. Nixen also draws out the profound connection Saint Jerome makes between knowledge of Scripture and reception of the Eucharist — famously captured in Jerome's own words: ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. A beautiful reflection for the week following the Solemnity of Corpus Christi and the upcoming consecration of the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
📖 Pick up The Last Communion of Saint Jerome by Fr. Basil Nixen through TAN Books.
Then, Catholic influencer and digital creator Ana Munley — host of the After Mass with Ana Munley podcast — sits down to discuss Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas. Ana shares how the document challenged her own previous assumptions about the neutrality of technology, highlighting the Pope's insistence that technology always reflects the values of those who create, fund, and profit from it. She walks through the encyclical's themes of digital culture, the commercialization of human imagination, data mining, and the Church's call for Catholics to be active builders — not passive bystanders — in the digital world. As Ana puts it: we are called to rebuild Jerusalem, not construct another Tower of Babel.
🎙️ Find Ana Munley's podcast After Mass with Ana Munley wherever you get your podcasts, and follow her on Instagram and Facebook at @anamunley.
📻 Listen to the Catholic Morning Show weekdays at 7 AM Central on the Iowa Catholic Radio Network:
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