Hello, I'm Rory Stewart, and I'd like to tell you about an intelligent squared event

I'm doing with the classicist author and broadcaster Mary Beard. Together we'll be discussing

politics and power from the Caesars to Sunak, who gets to Winpar, who is excluded. Does power

always corrupt or other examples of leaders who've maintained their integrity while an authority?

And how does the nature of power vary across different times and cultures? These are just some

of the questions that Mary and I will be trying to answer. In person tickets are now sold out,

but you can still watch online on the 13th of November at 7pm BST. Put your questions

to us live as we discuss power and politics down the ages. Hello podcast listeners, I'm Connor

and welcome to this special Sunday episode of Intelligent Squared. Today we're starting a new

series called the Sunday Debate, where we'll look back at some of Intelligent Squared's biggest

and most important debates. We're starting off with going all the way back to 2009, in which

Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Frye went up against Archbishop John O'Nayekin and Anne Whittacom

on whether the Catholic Church is a force for good in the world. It's a debate full of passion,

insight and well worth revisiting. We hope you enjoy it, and now let's go to the episode.

Hello, welcome from Central London, we're just a stone throw away from the houses of Parliament

in Westminster. We're here in central hall for this intelligence squared debate on the Catholic

Church is a force for good in the world. Well, that's a subject that's going to generate a lot of

heat, I think, and some light, too, I hope. I'm delighted to be chair of this debate. We have

a panel which includes some of the most provocative, intelligent and stimulating commentators

and practitioners on the subject, arguing for the motion, the Archbishop of Abuja in Nigeria,

John O'Nayekin, the British Conservative MP and Whittacom, arguing against the motion,

the actor, broadcaster and author, Stephen Frye and the journalist and commentator Christopher Hitchens.

...