Podcast · Devotional & Spiritual

Shameless Popery

by Catholic Answers · English · Devotional & Spiritual

Shameless Popery is a witty, entertaining podcast that informs you about your Catholic faith and equips you to better explain Catholicism especially to Protestant or atheist friends.

New episodes: Weekly
Latest: 13 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

13 Oct 2026New

#289 John 6 Is a Metaphor…So You Should Worship The Eucharist

Joe examines what many Protestant apologists get right (and wrong) about John 6. Yes, Jesus is using metaphor. And that’s why we should worship Him in the Eucharist. Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer. And last week I did a three hour long Q&A with students at the Catholic Center at Fort Hayes State University, and some of their questions were preselected and they got to vote on them by popularity. The most popular question that they asked was this, “Why do Catholics take Jesus literally when he refers to himself as the bread of life, bu...

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

6 Oct 2026
#288 One of the Worst Arguments Against the Crucifixion’s Historicity
Joe looks at how Muslims interpret the Quran to explain how Jesus wasn’t really crucified. Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery, and today I wanna look at the Quran’s claims about Jesus and the crucifixion and explain why I think that those claims are false, and in fact, why I think they can be shown to be false. But I wanna start with first making sense of just what it is that the Qur’an claims happened to Jesus. In Sarah four, verses 157 to 158, Allah accuses the Jews of boasting, “We killed the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the messenger of Allah.” ...
29 Sep 2026
#287 Is the Sign of the Cross Evil?
Joe examines the evidence for the Sign of the Cross as an ancient Christian practice. Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer, and why do Catholics make the sign of the cross? If you’re not Catholic, should you be making the sign of the cross yourself? And broadly speaking, Protestants fall into three groups on this question. Those who use the sign of the cross, those who think it’s harmless, and those who think it’s actually dangerous. In the first group, you’re gonna get Lutherans and Anglicans who often make the sign of the cross i...
22 Sep 2026
#286 Dr. Craig’s Awkward Christology Creates More Problems Than It Solves
Joe examines Dr. William Lane Craig’s view on the second person of the Trinity (the Logos) and how this creates a lot of problems that make many Christians look askance. Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer. And William Lane Craig recently reiterated that he does not believe in the Nicene Creed. And there are actually several areas where he seems to disagree with Nicene theology, but there’s one people are focused on right now. And it’s the fact that he doesn’t believe in what is called the eternal begetting of the Son. It’s ...
15 Sep 2026
#285 REBUTTAL: “Why I Don’t Accept The Papacy” (MEGA EPISODE)
Joe is joined by Brayden Cook of The Catechumen to examine the arguments made by Testify Apologetics in his video “Why I Don’t Accept The Papacy.” Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer and I am joined today by Catholic Answers newest apologist, Brayden Cook, to respond to a recent video the channel Testify made where the guy behind the testifier explains why he’s not Catholic. So Braden, you were the one who brought this video to my attention. What drew you to it and made you think that we ought to respond to it? Brayden: Yeah. Than...
8 Sep 2026
#284 Responding To The “Fatima Nettles” Controversy
Joe responds to the claims online that the Fatima children and apparitions promote self-harm. Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery I’m Joe Heschmeyer and I want to talk about something that has been nettling me lately. After Ethan Muse converted from atheism to Catholicism, a conversion due in no small part due to the evidence of Catholic miracles, he got into a debate with Sean Luke on the Channel Capturing Christianity about whether Our Lady of Fatima really was Mary miraculously appearing or whether it was, as Sean claimed, actually a demon. Now I’m going to link to...
1 Sep 2026
#283 Historical Proof Relics Are Anti-Pagan (and very Christian)
Joe responds to the interesting discourse surrounding showcasing of St. Agatha’s relics (her skull) recently. He demonstrates that relics are not only NOT pagan, but are both Scripturally and historically Christian. Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer and I wanted to talk about the weird and maybe even creepy side of Catholicism, relics. Now, a brief video clip from the Festival of Saint Agatha, which the bishop displays the skull of Saint Agatha and then places it in a gold reliquary, creeped out a lot of non-Catholics recently, and even some Cath...
25 Aug 2026
#282 Are Annulments Just Catholic Divorce?
Joe examines the practice of Catholic Annulments and examines whether it’s just divorce under another name. Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer. And today I want to explore a question that many people have. For a great number of people, the chief difficulty they have in embracing Catholicism isn’t about a major theological controversy or a doctrinal issue so much as it is a case involving the complicated issues of marriage and relationships in their own life. Because it’s not uncommon that when people are looking into the Catholic churc...
18 Aug 2026
#281 Does Studying Aquinas Inevitably Make You Catholic? (Conversation with Ryan Hurd)
Joe talks with Ryan Hurd who recently converted from Protestantism to the Catholic Faith, how studying Thomas Aquinas led him across the Tiber, and how this could be becoming something of a meme… Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer and I saw a fascinating discussion between three Baptists about people studying Thomas Aquinas and becoming Catholic. And I though a great person to talk about that whole concept with would be Ryan Hurd, a Protestant domestic scholar who recently became Catholic. So first of all, Ryan, thank you so much for coming on. Co...
11 Aug 2026
#280 When Church Fathers Get Something Wrong
Joe examines St. Irenaeus’ claim that Jesus was around 50 years old when he died, how Protestants use this to try to discredit tradition, and how Catholics should respond. Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer. And one of the arguments you’ll sometimes hear against tradition is that we can’t trust that the church fathers got tradition right. And there’s actually one particular moment that gets used a lot as an example to try to prove that point, that Saint Irenaeus allegedly got Jesus’ age wrong. The Bible answerman, Hank Hani...
4 Aug 2026
#279 The New Covenant Argument Against Baptist Theology
Joe examines the Baptist position that babies cannot be baptized, and how this clashes with the Old Covenant that they seem to accept. Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heshmeyer, and I want to share with you today an argument that is simple and effective at showing why Baptists are wrong, not only on baptism, but also on the Eucharist. The argument is straightforward enough that I think you can learn it very easily, but I want to get a little more into the weeds and prepare you for some background you might want to know or some arguments to expect in response an...
28 Jul 2026
#278 Will Rejecting Marian Dogmas Send You To Hell?
Joe examines Protestant worries about overstating doctrine that is necessary for salvation, specifically Marian dogmas. On the surface it seems like a perfectly logical concern, but Joe takes the time to demonstrate why they are necessary. Read Pope Pius XI’s encyclical on one of the Marian Dogmas here: https://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius11/p11verit.htm Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heshmeyer, and today I want to look at a particular objection to the church’s teachings about Mary, what are called the Marian dogmas that we often don’t talk ...
21 Jul 2026
#277 The Critical Disagreements That Sparked The SSPX Schism…
Joe responds to the SSPX claims about Vatican II and it’s position on religious liberty, ecumenism and collegiality. Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heshmeyer and I want to address three alleged errors of Vatican II. Now last week I looked at some of the legitimate critiques made against the council. For example, some of the texts were ambiguous and heretics made use of some of those ambiguities in propagating false teaching. As I pointed out then, those critiques are largely true, but you can say the same thing about many councils and it doesn’t im...
14 Jul 2026
#276 Answering SSPX Objections to Vatican II (Part 1)
Joe answers some objections to Vatican II raised by the SSPX. Transcript: Joe : Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer and in response to my recent video about the SSPX consecrations, I mentioned that despite what you may have heard, the dispute between the Vatican and the Society of St. Pius X not a dispute about the Latin mass. It is about whether or not Vatican II teaches error. As I put it last time, they accused the Council of Teaching error or heresy on three issues, religious liberty, accumanism, and collegiality. There simply is not time right now to do a deep dive ...
7 Jul 2026
#275 The SSPX Excommunication Is Justified. Here’s Why…
Joe breaks down the SSPX schism, the common arguments used to consecrate more bishops, and how the Church has historically handled these situations. Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer, and I want to try to make sense of the current SSPX situation. The Vatican says that the bishops of the Society of St. Pius 10th and not only the bishops have just gone into schism. The Society of St. Pius 10th on the other hand says that they’re against schism and that they’re not actually in schism, even though the Pope says they are. So what’s going o...
30 Jun 2026
#274 DEBATE REVIEW: Redeemed Zoomer vs Doug Wilson on SCHISM
Joe reviews the recent debate between RZ and Doug Wilson on Schism, and gives the Catholic response. Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer and I wanted to review a thoughtful debate that recently happened over on the channel Reformation Red Pill between Redeem Zoomer and Pastor Doug Wilson. The subject of the debate was on the sin of schism. Now, particularly was on whether or not Doug’s denomination, the CREC is schismatic, but it’s really about much more than that, this problem of schism within Protestantism. And you might imagine that as a C...
23 Jun 2026
#273 Agnostic Reads the Bible. His Questions Are Surprisingly Good.
Joe responds to a few questions Daniel Greene had after reading the Bible for the first time! Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer, and I want to introduce you to Daniel Green, an agnostic YouTuber who decided to read through the entire Bible for the first time. Daniel: Hello, everyone. I feel like I’ve kind of gotten away with something somehow. What do I mean by that? I managed to put out a Bible video and for the large part it’s been received pretty well. I don’t know how I did that. Joe: I’ve actually got a pretty good idea how...
16 Jun 2026
#272 If Jesus Drank Wine, Why Don’t Some Christians?
Joe responds to common objections to alcohol that some Christians make, and cites history and the Bible to show that moderate drinking is ok. Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer. Is it okay for followers of Jesus Christ to drink alcohol even in moderation? Broadly speaking, Christians fall into two camps. Those who say moderate drinking is okay as long as you don’t get drunk and those who say Christians should never drink alcohol. So should we preach moderation or should we preach tea totalism that is total abstinence with a capital T? Now, if you ...
9 Jun 2026
#271 The False Gospel Many Catholics Secretly Believe
Joe examines Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, why it’s a huge problem in modern society, and how this applies to the recent Jesse Ridgeway news. Transcript: Joe: This week, a YouTuber named Jesse Ridgeway announced that he and his wife had decided that she would abort their child because the baby had down syndrome. Once they saw the size of the cross being laid before them, they decided it would be better for their child not to live. But honestly, I don’t really expect Jesse Ridgeway to have room for accepting suffering into his comfortable life as a successful secular YouTuber. I thi...
2 Jun 2026
#270 Does “Magnifica Humanitas” Contradict Catholic Teaching? (Just War)
Joe reviews the backlash against the Just War portion of Pope Leo’s “Magnifica Humanitas.” Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer and I want to talk about the fight over just war that’s being fought right now in the aftermath of Pope Leo’s new and cyclical. I want to start with a little bit of context. On Memorial Day, Pope Leo released Magnifica Humanitas on safeguarding the human person and the time of artificial intelligence. It’s being called the popes uncyclical on AI, but that’s a little bit like Calling Rarem...
26 May 2026
#269 Responding (Lovingly) to Wes Huff’s Reasons For Not Being Catholic
Wes Huff’s video “6 reasons why I’m not Roman Catholic” has started quite the conversation! Here’s Joe’s response to Wes (lovingly, of course). Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer, and on Thursday, Wes Huff released a video called Six Reasons Why I’m No Roman Catholic. Now, I am grateful to him for making the video for a few different reasons. First, despite our theological differences, I think West does a lot of good and I think that he’s a man of goodwill who has a desire to serve the Lord. Second, as he ...
19 May 2026
#268 The Jewish Roots of “Christ Is King”
Joe breaks down why Christ Is King has Jewish roots. Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer and I want to talk about the phrase Christ is king. I love the phrase, but I’m also aware that people online sometimes use it today in ways that are regarded as and often meant as anti-Jewish. Now I know when I say that there’s already a segment of you who instantly want to write me off as being an overly sensitive person who thinks any criticism of Israel is antisemitic. But hear me out, that’s not me. And if you still think I’m wrong at the ...
12 May 2026
#267 “Bible In Context” Got This Wrong In His Response to Me
Bible in Context is an Instagram page that regularly replies to Catholic creators, and has replied to several clips of Joe. Today Joe responds back! Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer. Many of you may be familiar with the Instagram account Bible in context. It’s run by a guy by the name of Patrick O’Brien, and he’s built a large following attacking Catholic teaching. He’s called the Rosary Demonic, said praying to saints is communicating with demons, and even called the Eucharist blasphemy. So needless to say, no fan of Catholici...
5 May 2026
#266 This Brand New Sola Scriptura Argument Surprised Me…
Joe reviews Christopher Cloos’ new argument in favor of Sola Scriptura, the Attribute Inscripturation Thesis (AIT). Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer, and many of you know I recently debated Doug Wilson on Sola Scriptura. If you haven’t seen that debate, you can check it out in the description below. But the debate prompted a lot of good conversations from both sides and one person in particular caught my attention because he offers a brand new argument for Solo Scriptura and for the 66th book Protestant Bible. That person is the Protestant...
22 Apr 2026
#265 A SLAM DUNK Debate For Catholics (Fatima DEBATE REVIEW)
Joe reviews the recent debate on Capturing Catholicism between Ethan Muse and Sean of Anglican Aesthetics over the apparitions at Fatima. Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer, and you all voted overwhelmingly for me to do a debate review of Sean Luke versus Ethan Muse on the question of whether the alleged Mary and Apparitions and Fatima were really Mary or whether, as Sean Luke claims, was really a demon. Now, this is not going to be a full blow by blow of their whole three hour debate. I’m going to actually sit down with Ethan for a fuller convers...
21 Apr 2026
#264 Redeemed Zoomer Critiques a Doctor of the Church…It Ends Poorly
Joe and Brayden from The Catechumen review Redeemed Zoomer’s “critique” of St. Frances de Sales. Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer, and I’m excited to share a really good argument from one of my favorite saints responding to a popular YouTuber. I mean, obviously that’s not what he was originally doing, but along the way, I’m joined by one Mr. Braden Cook. Brayton, would you like to introduce yourself and then we’ll get into the tweet, the book, and the response? Brayden: Yeah, sure. Well, thanks for having me o...
15 Apr 2026
#263 Trump’s Blasphemous Meme Points To A Bigger Problem… - Joe Heschmeyer
Joe examines how Trump’s blasphemous meme actually points to a more serious problem spiritually in our culture today, and it’s a problem that most of us struggle with. Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer, and this Easter season has been a wild one for American Catholics, particularly in terms of the clash of church and state. On Easter Sunday morning, President Trump tweeted to the Iranians threatening to attack power plants and bridges and to open the bleeping straight, or they would be living in hell, signing off with a mocking praise be to...
7 Apr 2026
#262 I Debated Doug Wilson on Sola Scriptura
Joe’s opening statement in his debate against Doug Wilson on Sola Scriptura. Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer and happy Easter. I suspect many of you are familiar with the Protestant pastor, Doug Wilson. He’s often been described as a Christian nationalist. He recently made the news for arguing that the law shouldn’t permit Catholics to process down the street with images of Mary or with the Eucharist. Clip: Catholic church bells would be okay. Catholic church bells would be okay. But a parade in honor of the Virgin Mary, carrying an...
2 Apr 2026
#261 Catholic Conversions Hit Decade Highs…But There’s a Catch
Catholic conversions are SURGING this year! But does that mean we’re in a revival in the US? The numbers are a little more nuanced than you may first expect… Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer, and I’ve got a lot of exciting news for you, not least of which is we’re ending the season of Lent and entering the season called Trudiwum, the shortest season on the church’s calendar. Fun fact, it’s the three holiest days of the year. It begins with tonight, Holy Thursday, the mass of the Lord’s Supper, and it’s g...
31 Mar 2026
#260 What You Missed About Jonah and Christ’s Passion and Resurrection
Joe explains the importance of the Sign of Jonah named by Jesus in Matthew 16, and how it relates to Holy Week. Transcript: Joe: Welcome back to Shameless Popery. I’m Joe Heschmeyer. I’ve got two very exciting pieces of news to share with you before I get started on today’s episode. Number one, this time next week, we should have the debate with Doug Wilson that I just did. It should be live and up and you should be able to watch it in its entirety. I will also have an episode that’s basically a version of my opening statement like I normally do. And then you can kind o...

About Shameless Popery

Shameless Popery is a witty, entertaining podcast that informs you about your Catholic faith and equips you to better explain Catholicism especially to Protestant or atheist friends.

Shameless Popery is a English devotional & spiritual podcast from Catholic Answers. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Catholic Answers
Language: English
Category: Devotional & Spiritual
New episodes: Weekly
Latest episode: 13 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1655970197

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