Characteristic events on radio offended Vatican (8)
I believe the answer is:
syndrome
'characteristic events' is the definition.
I cannot understand how the remainder of the clue works.
(Other definitions for syndrome that I've seen before include "Set of symptoms usually occurring together" , "collection of twenty four's [SYMPTOM]" , "Signs of disorder" , "Particular group of symptoms that always occur together" , "Characteristic pattern of symptoms" .)