Sunday Morning

8:10 Report from the Vatican 

A wrap-up of yesterday’s funeral for Pope Francis by RNZ's Andrew McRae.

8:15 The Pope's legacy in his homeland of Argentina

Argentina celebrated Francis' becoming Pope with an ecstasy otherwise reserved for the country's three World Cup soccer championships. But that initial excitement over the former archbishop of Buenos Aires faded as the years passed.

Argentinian writer and Journalist Marcela Mora Y Araujo joins Jim to discuss the Pope's legacy in his homeland, and whether or not his family were able to make it to Rome for his funeral.

8:25 The Sunday Morning Quiz 

Quiz master Jack Waley-Cohen is back with his Sunday Morning quiz. Jack is the mind behind the questions on BBC's infamous quiz show Only Connect, known for being both hard — and at the same time totally obvious.     

Wake up your brain and have a go! 

8:35 Calling Home: Alan Duncan from Prince Edward Island 

Alan Duncan has moved back to live in Prince Edward Island, Canada. It’s a place where the winters are cold, the beaches are long, lobster is affordable and there’s an abundance of potatoes. 

9:10 Mediawatch 

Mediawatch asks an outgoing health reporter about covering a sector that throws up stories of crisis almost daily - and why hard data seems so hard to get. Also: media freedom in decline around the world, and the fallout from Winston Peters’ blurt about RNZ. 

9:40 Irish writer Colm Tóibín on new book 'Long Island' 

Colm Tóibín was born in Ireland in 1955. He is the author of 10 acclaimed novels and was the Laureate for Irish Fiction 2022-2024. His latest book Long Island returns to the world of his novel Brooklyn, a book that was so popular in Ireland that one every 150 people bought a copy. 

Colm will be in Auckland next month for the Auckland Writers Festival. He joins Jim to discuss the urge to write Long Island and the techniques he uses to give his characters depth. 

10:10 Graydon Carter: The glamorous heyday of print magazines

In his early years as editor of Vanity Fair, Graydon Carter’s budget had no ceiling. It was a time of lavish parties, unchecked expense accounts, hugely expensive photographers - and it was the last golden age of magazines.

Carter was Vanity Fair’s editor for 25 years, and the co-founder of Spy magazine. He joins Jim to talk about his dealings with the rich and famous, about those who took great offence at how they were portrayed and his memoir, When the Going was Good. 

10:40 My Latest Track: Priya Sami 

Priya Sami (Trip Pony, The Sami Sisters, Dateline) joins us to introduce the brand-new single from her latest project, Bub - which may or may not stand for "Break Up Band". 

'New Amsterdam' is the latest taster from their forthcoming debut album Can't Even, due out May 9th. 

11:05 Sarah Garfinkel: Interoception - Your untapped sixth sense 

The ability to count your own heartbeat could be the answer to lowering anxiety and managing other conditions like PTSD, psychosis and even some aspects of autism. This skill is called interoception, and it's what British Neuroscientist Sarah Garfinkel has dedicated her life to researching. 

Professor Garfinkel hopes that the future of addressing mental health conditions will be body and peripheral physiology-based interventions – that is, we start listening to our hearts.  

11:30 Kiwi aid worker returns to Syria after fall of Assad 

Hawke’s Bay-born humanitarian Mike Seawright – who is the founder of locally-based aid agency ReliefAid, has just re-entered Syria for the first time since the fall of the Assad regime last December. 

Although ReliefAid has been delivering aid to Syrian families since 2015, Mike had been prevented from entering the country under the dictatorial regime. Now he is visiting Damascus, Aleppo and Idlib – where his teams worked throughout the war. He joins Jim to discuss what he has found there since the dramatic change in leadership. 

11:50 Canada Elections 2025: Is early voting muddying the waters? 

On 28 April, Canadian voters weigh up who will lead their county amid an ongoing trade war with the US and repeated comments from President Donald Trump about making Canada the 51st US state.  

With less than one week to go before their election day, Canadians are voting early in record numbers – but what does this mean for pollsters and predictions?  

We’re joined by Ashleigh Stewart, a journalist from New Zealand now living in Toronto, for the latest.