The Church of St. Luke

Cardinal Christophe Pierre speaks to EWTN News President and COO Montse Alvarado in Rome on Friday, April 25, 2025. / Credit: EWTN News

CNA Staff, Apr 25, 2025 / 19:36 pm (CNA).

Pope Francis asked us “to be a Church which announces the good news of Christ,” Cardinal Christophe Pierre said on Friday, one of the many fruits of the Holy Spirit’s having selected the late Argentine prelate to be the supreme pontiff.

Pierre, who has served as apostolic nuncio in various countries over several decades and who has served as nuncio to the United States under Francis, told EWTN News President and COO Montse Alvarado that as he sees it, Francis’ election in 2013 was the fruit of a process that arose out of the 2007 Aparecida conference of Latin American and Caribbean bishops in Brazil. 

Then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio headed up the committee that produced the conference’s final document. The bishops at that conference were “inspired [and] helped” by the future pope, Pierre said. 

“Then, six years later, Pope Francis was elected pope,” Pierre said, describing the selection as providential. “The Holy Spirit chose him so that he could be an instrument of Christ in today’s world,” the cardinal said. 

He further pointed to Francis’ regular contention — articulated first in his apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium — that “realities are more important than ideas.”

“Today in the world, we are all tempted to transform reality into ideas,” Pierre told Alvarado. “And when you transform reality, it’s in abstractions. And ideas become ideology, and they become instruments of power, of war, of dispute between ourselves. And it is impossible to achieve peace as Christ asks us to do.”

“Even in the Church, at times we are tempted to defend our ideas,” the cardinal said. “But what Christ wants us to be is simply like him, and like Pope Francis has been.”

Asked about what the Catholic Church needs in the wake of Francis’ death, Pierre said it “needs first and foremost to be close to the people, to be attentive to the real needs of the people, especially the poor.”

He further urged Catholics to “remember that Jesus met you and changed your life.” He encouraged the faithful to “be a witness of Jesus for the world today.”

“I met Jesus, and this has transformed my life,” the prelate said. “And because Jesus transformed my life, I cannot do anything else but to announce his presence through my witness of life, but also through the way I live [and the way] I see the world.”

The archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, speaks to EWTN News on Friday, April 25, 2025, in Rome. / Crdit: EWTN News/Screenshot

CNA Staff, Apr 25, 2025 / 19:16 pm (CNA).

The late Pope Francis was “a man of the heart” who preached tenderness and mercy to the global Church, New York archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan said on Friday. 

Dolan spoke to EWTN News President and COO Montse Alvarado at the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls on Friday. The cardinal is one of 10 from the United States who will vote in the upcoming conclave to elect the next pope. 

Reflecting on the three most recent popes — St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis — the cardinal archbishop said John Paul II “reinvigorated the soul of the world” that was weary from “lies” and “atrocities.” Benedict XVI, meanwhile, was known for uniting “the mind, faith, and reason.”

“And Pope Francis, I thought, spoke very much about the heart,” Dolan said. 

“I remember his first time at the window after his election, I guess we were all thinking there would be some theologically erudite talk,” Dolan said. “And [instead] he spoke about tenderness, tenderness.” 

“We have a God who’s tender with us, and we have a God who wants us to be tender with one another,” Dolan continued.

The prelate said it was “magnificent” that Francis’ final encyclical, Dilexit Nos, was a call for Catholics worldwide to rediscover the love and compassion found in the heart of Jesus Christ. 

“Remember when he was in the hospital for so long,” Dolan said of Francis’ hospitalization earlier this year prior to his death. “When we got the medical bulletins [the] doctors would say, ‘Ah, but his heart is strong.’ And I said, ‘You bet it is.’ He was a man of the heart.”

null / Credit: sergign/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 25, 2025 / 18:16 pm (CNA).

A Maryland district court judge this week ordered Catholic Relief Services (CRS) to pay a former employee $60,000 for its refusal to provide spousal health care benefits to the man’s civilly married “husband.”

The union is recognized under Maryland state law and federal law but is not recognized by the Catholic Church. The Church teaches that marriage is exclusively between a man and a woman and does not recognize homosexual civil “marriages” between two men or between two women.

In an April 21 ruling, U.S. District Judge Julie Rubin ruled that CRS violated state and federal laws that prohibit discrimination based on a person’s sex and his or her sexual orientation. The judge rejected CRS’ argument that the organization was covered under state and federal religious exemptions to the discrimination laws.

Rubin also rejected CRS’ argument that enforcing the antidiscrimination laws against the religious charity in this instance would violate the First Amendment’s protection of the free exercise of religion.

The dispute came down to the court’s interpretation of the “ministerial exception,” which is a legal doctrine in the United States that exempts religious entities from some antidiscrimination laws. 

It allows exemptions when an employee works in a position that furthers the religious mission of the entity in cases when the antidiscrimination provision would hamper its religious mission.

According to the ruling, the former employee, who is named “John Doe” in the lawsuit, worked as a program data adviser; a data quality and analytics adviser; a global monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning adviser; a program manager; and a gateway manager.

The judge ruled that these positions were not integral to advancing the religious mission of CRS and therefore did not qualify for a religious exemption under federal law or the Maryland Fair Employment Practices Act.

“Doe did not directly further a CRS core mission in any of his five positions held during his employment by CRS,” the ruling states.

“Because the court concludes that none of Doe’s five full-time positions with CRS directly furthered a CRS mission and that each of his positions was one or more steps removed from taking the actions that affect CRS goals, the court … concludes that CRS has not met its burden to show that [the state’s] religious entity exemption applies here,” the ruling adds. 

A spokesperson for CRS told CNA on Friday that the organization did not have a comment at the time and is currently “reviewing the judge’s ruling.”

The former employee issued a statement through his lawyers at Gilbert Employment Law in which he said he was “very happy with Judge Rubin’s ruling.” 

“[I] am honored to be part of such a precedent-setting case that has helped clarify, for employers and employees alike, the legal protections Maryland law provides, especially for LGBTQ+ workers,” the plaintiff said.

Ryan Tucker, who serves as senior counsel at the legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, expressed concern about the judge’s ruling in a statement to CNA. 

“Now and always, every religious organization has the right to hire people who share its faith,” he said. “The government should never penalize a religious nonprofit just because it’s religious. This ruling, however, is deeply concerning due to the implications it may have for the First Amendment rights of religious organizations and employers.”

CRS primarily provides humanitarian aid around the world. According to its mission statement, the organization is “motivated by the Gospel of Jesus Christ to cherish, preserve, and uphold the sacredness and dignity of all human life, foster charity and justice, and embody Catholic social and moral teaching.”

Father Brian Thomas Beckett Mullady, OP, speaks to Father Mitch Pacwa on “EWTN Live,” Wednesday, July 31, 2019. / Credit: EWTN

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 25, 2025 / 17:16 pm (CNA).

EWTN television and radio show host, author, and devoted teacher Father Brian Thomas Becket Mullady, OP, passed away on the evening of Tuesday, April 22, following health complications. He was 78.

Mullady will be remembered for his strong media presence teaching the Catholic faith in an understandable and relatable manner. Throughout his career he hosted seven television series on EWTN and published seven books with EWTN Publishing. 

The priest hosted several programs centered on Christ and the Church, including “God’s Blueprint for a Happy Life” with Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers. The show was created to “provide a step-by-step guide for getting the most out of the Ten Commandments and to show how faithfully following them leads to a rich and rewarding life in Christ.”

Mullady’s many articles and books explored a wide range of topics and theological questions, from “Grace Explained: How to Receive — and Retain — God’s Most Potent Gift” to “St. Thomas Aquinas Rescues Modern Psychology.”

The priest also personally connected with everyday people to spread the Catholic mission on his popular EWTN radio show “Open Line Thursday with Fr. Brian Mullady.” During the program, people called in to ask Mullady faith-related questions and he would answer and discuss the topics in real time.

Prior to his media work, Mullady was committed to several other jobs including working as a parish priest, high school teacher, retreat master, mission preacher, and professor at colleges and seminaries. He entered the Dominican order in 1966 and was ordained in 1972.

“Father Mullady was one of my favorite hosts when I used to watch EWTN before coming to work here, and I was very proud of the fact that I brought him back to do additional TV and radio programs for us,” EWTN President and COO Doug Keck wrote on social media.

“He had a marvelous gift of conveying the faith in an interesting and understandable way and had a great sense of humor. He will be greatly missed,” Keck said.

EWTN Chaplain Father John Paul Mary, MFVA, reflected on a retreat Mullady held that he attended prior to becoming a priest. He said he remembers and appreciates how Mullady discussed the topic of grace.

He said Mullady “really wanted to know what grace does when we cooperate with God’s grace. That grace can transform us. It transforms in nature when we live the virtues.”

“For me, as a priest and as a friar,” Father John Paul said, Mullady “influenced the way that I think about God’s grace, how I experience it, and how I want to live according to the grace of God.”

“Throughout nearly my entire 20 years at the Register, it was a blessing and privilege to know Father Mullady, who I consider one of the foremost authorities on the documents of the Second Vatican Council and their implementation,” Tom Wehner, the print editor for CNA’s sister news partner, the National Catholic Register, told CNA.

Wehner described Mullady as “a straight shooter” and said he “didn’t sugarcoat his remarks about the hits and misses on the implementation of the council.”

“And those who were the recipients of his wisdom during the many Lenten missions and retreats he gave received an immeasurable gift.”

“On a personal note,” Wehner added, “when we would share a meal during his semesters at nearby Holy Apostles College and Seminary, our long conversations were just as formative as they were a dialogue between friends.”

The Colorado capitol in Denver. / Credit: robert cicchetti/Shutterstock

CNA Staff, Apr 25, 2025 / 15:51 pm (CNA).

Catholic leaders in Colorado this week decried a new state law signed by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday that will mandate taxpayer funding for elective abortions.  

Colorado was already one of the most permissive states in the country in terms of abortion. Voters in November 2024 approved Amendment 79, which enshrined in the state constitution the state laws already in place that allow abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. 

One of the two new laws Polis signed April 24 — passed by the Legislature as Senate Bill 183 — implements Amendment 79, setting the date for it to ultimately take effect at the beginning of 2026. 

As part of the new law, an earlier provision in the state constitution that prohibited public funds for abortion has now been repealed; the new law requires abortion coverage for Medicaid patients and Child Health Plan Plus program recipients using state money. 

Public employees’ insurance plans will also have to cover abortion, the Denver Post reported. 

Bishops: Public funding of abortion violates ‘dignity of human life’

In an April 24 statement, the Colorado Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s bishops, said the new law will force Coloradans to “fund elective abortion up to birth using our tax dollars.” 

The conference had strongly urged all people to vote no on Amendment 79 during last year’s campaign, noting that among other things, it would open the door for direct taxpayer funding for abortion.

“The allocation of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to subsidize the deliberate ending of innocent life and harm of women is a tragedy for Colorado,” the bishops wrote April 24. 

“Rather than using state resources to support life-affirming alternatives, SB25-183 prioritizes public funding of abortion at the expense of the lives of preborn children, the health of their mothers, and the conscience rights of millions of Colorado taxpayers who morally object to abortion.”

In an open letter sent earlier this month — co-signed by Archbishop Samuel Aquila and Auxiliary Bishop Jorge Rodriguez of the Archdiocese of Denver, Bishop James Golka of Colorado Springs, and Bishop Stephen Berg of Pueblo — the bishops said the proposal “violates the dignity of human life” and “disregards the safety of women.”

They urged the governor “to consider the millions of Coloradans who do not want their hard-earned tax dollars to be used in the destruction of human life.”

State analysts have estimated the cost of public coverage of abortion at nearly $5.9 million per year, with some savings — perhaps only as much as $573,000 — realized for the state because of the lower cost of covering abortion rather than supporting the babies’ births. 

However, the Colorado bishops disputed the state’s analysis, noting that according to data published in 2024 from the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, 62% of abortions in Colorado are paid for using Medicaid. 

The cost of the state expanding taxpayer payment to virtually all abortions, including more expensive late-term abortions — especially given a likely loss of federal support — will potentially cost the state closer to $8.5 million per year.

Michael New, a senior associate scholar at the pro-life Charlotte Lozier Institute and assistant professor of practice at the Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America, called the arguments for the bill “bad economics and even worse ethics.”

In his analysis of the bill for the Charlotte Lozier Institute, New found that when state Medicaid programs cover abortions, the number of abortions increases. The Colorado bill will increase the number of abortions in Colorado by more than 1,800 annually, New said.

“[T]he federal government subsidizes other health services covered by Colorado’s Medicaid program. Colorado taxpayers pay for only a fraction of the cost of Medicaid births,” New wrote at National Review earlier this month.

“Indeed, contrary to the assertion of Colorado Democrats, covering elective abortion would cost Colorado taxpayers money.”

The other law Polis signed, passed as Senate Bill 129, will ramp up the state’s 2023 shield law to guard abortion providers and patients, and their data, from out-of-state investigations and other actions, the Denver Post reported.

Twenty states and Washington, D.C., now allow Medicaid programs to use state taxpayer dollars to cover elective abortions.

Pope Francis. / Credit: Vatican Media

Lima Newsroom, Apr 25, 2025 / 14:47 pm (CNA).

As the first Latin American pontiff, the legacy of Pope Francis in the region is complex, according to analysts consulted by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner.

German Bishops at Mass in the Papal Basilica of St. Paul outside the Walls during their visit in Rome, Nov. 17, 2022. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 25, 2025 / 13:15 pm (CNA).

Here is a roundup of Catholic world news that you might have missed this week:

German group slams bishops’ same-sex blessing guide issued after Pope Francis’ death

A small but influential Catholic group in Germany called “New Beginning” has issued a blistering statement protesting the release of a new handout, “Blessings for Couples Who Love Each Other,” by the German Bishops’ Conference (DBK) and the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK). 

The new instructions on the blessing of same-sex couples came just 48 hours after the death of Pope Francis. “Obviously, this document was ready in the drawer,” the group stated in its “Protest Note,” adding: “They probably only waited for the death of the pope and the interregnum to create facts in the time of weakened ecclesiastical legal power and to introduce exactly what was expressly prohibited in Fiducia Supplicans [the 2023 Vatican directive on nonliturgical blessings for couples in ‘irregular’ situations].”

The handout states that divorced couples and “couples of all sexual orientations and gender identities are a natural part of our society” and that “couples who do not wish to enter into a Church sacramental marriage or who are not eligible for one should be allowed to have blessing ceremonies.”

Diocese of Zambia declares period of mourning, suspends Easter celebrations

The Archdiocese of Ndola in Zambia has declared a period of mourning following the passing of Pope Francis and suspended major activities it had lined up before the Easter Monday news was made public, reported ACI Africa, CNA’s news partner in Africa.

The archdiocese’s pastoral director, Father Ephraim Mulenda Mapulanga, said the decision to suspend all activities and enter a period of mourning was a way of “showing respect to our late Holy Father.” He further noted that the pastoral office had seen fit that “all programs of entertainment be suspended in all our parishes and institutions.”

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India condemns terror attack in Kashmir 

The Indian Catholic Bishops’ Conference issued a statement on Wednesday condemning a terror attack in Kashmir that killed 26 people and injured 17 others, according to a UCA News report. According to reports, a terrorist group known as the Resistance Front has claimed responsibility for the attack. 

“We strongly condemn this heinous crime against humanity, which has targeted innocent lives, causing immense pain and suffering to families and loved ones,” the bishops said in an April 23 statement. “Violence only breeds more violence, and it is high time for us to choose the path of love, compassion, and understanding,” they added. The bishops further urged the militant group to lay down their arms.

Ecumenical Mass in Egypt for the soul of Pope Francis

In a solemn ecumenical gathering, Bishop Claudio Lurati of Alexandria, Egypt, presided over a memorial Mass for Pope Francis at St. Catherine Latin Cathedral in Alexandria, according to ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner.

He was joined by bishops from the Maronite, Melkite, and Coptic Catholic Churches along with government officials, foreign diplomats, and representatives from Al-Azhar. Lurati praised Pope Francis as a man of deep love and service who brought hope and unity to a divided world.

Nigerian bishop laments exodus in episcopal see amid insecurity

Bishop Michael Gobal Gokum of the Diocese of Pankshin in Nigeria has expressed sorrow over the mass displacement of residents in his episcopal see as a result of insecurity. In an interview with ACI Africa on Tuesday, Gokum said violence in Bokkos and other parts of Nigeria’s Plateau state has left thousands of people homeless, with many now living in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps.

“I feel very sad seeing my flock always on the road, carrying their belongings, crying and wailing because of the insecurity in their communities,” he lamented. “I cannot be an effective shepherd when the people are unhappy, when they are unsafe, and when they are forced to live in IDP camps.”

South Sudan’s president remembers day Pope Francis kissed his feet 

In wake of Pope Francis’ death, President Salva Kiir of South Sudan recalled an extraordinary moment when the Holy Father knelt and kissed his feet while begging him and other political leaders to end the country’s civil war. 

“It goes without saying that South Sudan had a special spot in the heart of His Holiness Pope Francis,” Kiir said. “His act of kindness and humility demonstrated during our visit to Rome in 2019, when he knelt down to kiss our feet, was a turning point for us, the peace partners.”

Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Lawrence in the film “Conclave.” / Credit: Focus Features

CNA Staff, Apr 25, 2025 / 10:45 am (CNA).

“Conclave” was a surprise hit upon its theatrical release last October. And following the April 21 death of Pope Francis, the film, now on streaming platforms, has attracted a new wave of interest from viewers, with streaming rates of the film reportedly tripling in the days since the pope’s death was announced. 

Directed by Edward Berger and based on a 2016 novel, the film is a character-driven story focusing on several of the Church’s cardinals as they elect a new pope — with plenty of political jockeying and intrigue, ideological clashes, and dramatic turns throughout. The film garnered eight Academy Award nominations this spring, winning one for Best Adapted Screenplay. 

Even before its release, “Conclave” garnered heavy criticism from Catholics who decried the film’s twist ending — which, spoiler alert, sees a biological woman inadvertently elected pope — as well as the film’s depiction of the various ideologies of the cardinals, especially the obvious lionization of characters who espouse views contrary to the Church’s teaching. 

Beyond those criticisms, anyone using the film to educate themselves on how the actual conclave process will work in the coming weeks will find that the film contains a couple of key inaccuracies — but not everything in the film is fiction.

Here’s a (non-exhaustive) look at what “Conclave” gets wrong — and gets right — about the process of electing a new pope. 

FICTION: Cardinal caricatures; spiritual wasteland

One of the most widely-cited “inaccuracies” of the film, at least according to prominent Catholics, is its depiction of the College of Cardinals as deeply divided among ideological factions and the papacy as a highly political rather than a spiritual office. 

The film paints an inaccurate picture of the Church’s cardinals as cliquey, petty, ambitious, and “drably ideological,” said Matthew Bunson, a Church expert and editorial director for EWTN News (CNA’s parent company). 

“The banter among the cardinals is banal. It’s uninteresting, it’s political, it’s drably ideological on both sides. Every one of the major characters, unfortunately — despite the brilliance of the actors themselves — is uninteresting, incurious, and lacks a serious theological or philosophical spiritual depth,” Bunson told CNA. 

“They are cartoon characters of what cardinals — and I know many — actually talk about, and the types of issues they’re likely to discuss in a conclave,” he said. 

Over the course of the movie, the cardinals split into factions to try to get their “man” elected pope, with one coalition led by Stanley Tucci’s progressive-minded Cardinal Bellini seeking to reform the Church by rejecting many of the Church’s orthodox teachings; while the brash, rude, and openly racist Cardinal Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto) advocates, ultimately unsuccessfully, for more traditionalist views.

Sparks fly onscreen as the factions clash with each other, skeletons tumble from closets, and the cardinals scheme to try to “win” the papacy for their ideological side. Any characters appearing to stand for an orthodox view of the Church’s teaching, Bunson noted, are “pushed out of the way” or outright “destroyed” within the narrative — such as a morally stern Nigerian cardinal who loses any hope he had for the papacy after it is revealed he hypocritically fathered a secret child.

Though a casual observer might be drawn in by the ideological clashes depicted on screen, Bunson said the film suffers from a “lack of intellectual and spiritual dimensions to almost any one of the characters.” Even Ralph Fiennes’ central character, Cardinal Lawrence, “stands down morally on multiple fronts” throughout the film, he said. 

Characters invoke God’s name many times throughout the film, but Jesus is barely mentioned; none of the cardinals, despite being priests, are ever shown celebrating Mass; and the Holy Spirit — who is meant to be the “protagonist” of any conclave, in the words of (real-life) Cardinal Kurt Koch — is not mentioned once (apart from when characters make the sign of the cross). 

The one fundamentally spiritual character, Cardinal Vincent Benítez (more on him later) is the sole character that “fundamentally couldn’t even be elected pope,” Bunson noted. 

Ultimately, the lack of true spiritual depth in the writing of the characters makes their conversations, arguments, and speeches “rather drab,” Bunson continued.

In reality, Bunson said that despite some real ideological differences among the College of Cardinals’ more than 250 members from every corner of the globe, “the cardinals from around the world, even though they don’t know each other, have [a] remarkable fraternity and collegiality as members of the College of Cardinals.”

“If this had been a genuine film on an authentic, Catholic conclave, that might have been truly historic and superb,” Bunson added.

Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, expressed a similar criticism about the film’s ideological presentation on social media last year, quipping: “If you are interested in a film about the Catholic Church that could have been written by the editorial board of the New York Times, this is your movie.”

In the world of the movie, Barron continued, “the hierarchy of the Church is a hotbed of ambition, corruption, and desperate egotism … Conservatives are xenophobic extremists and the liberals are self-important schemers. None can escape this irredeemable situation.”

FACT: The process immediately after the pope’s death

The film, unsurprisingly, commences with the death of the (previous) pope. Bunson said the film’s depiction of the process that takes place immediately after the pope dies is reasonably accurate. 

The key figure in any papal transition is the camerlengo, or chamberlain, who is a cardinal given the key role of organizing the process during the papal vacancy. Cardinal Tremblay, the camerlengo in the film, breaks the dead pope’s ring of the fisherman — a real and famous process symbolizing the breaking of the seal of the late pope’s pontificate.  

The film skips the certification of the pope’s death, which under new papal funeral norms does not take place in the room where he dies but in his private chapel. As part of this process, the camerlengo calls the deceased pope three times by his baptismal name, confirming there is no response.

And later on, the film conflates some aspects of the role of the dean of the College of Cardinals with the role of the camerlengo, giving some of the camerlengo’s duties in arranging the conclave to Ralph Fiennes’ Cardinal Lawrence. (Bunson said he is willing to let slide those small details, which were likely changed slightly to make the scenes more impactful for Fiennes’ character.)

FICTION: ‘In pectore’ cardinal

Cardinal Benítez, who is strongly telegraphed as a papal candidate from the moment his character is introduced, says he was made a cardinal by the late pope “in pectore” — that is, in secret. He offers no documentation and no proof that he is who he says he is, and yet the other cardinals embrace him almost immediately. 

In reality, Bunson said, a cardinal created “in pectore” cannot take part in a conclave unless the pope makes the cardinal’s name public prior to his passing. 

“So right from the start, this character is ineligible to be a participant in this conclave, because he should not be a cardinal to begin with,” he said. 

FACT: The setting and voting process

The fictional conclave takes place in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel — though the filmmakers had to recreate the priceless chapel for the film — as does the real conclave. 

The conclave system was formalized in 1274, and its procedures are minutely governed today by the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis of Pope John Paul II, as amended by Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, and allows for no innovations on the part of the cardinals. 

By tradition and law, the conclave is held in the Sistine Chapel, and votes are taken once or twice in a morning session and once or twice in an afternoon session. During the vote, cardinals individually approach Michelangelo’s painting of the Last Judgment, say a prayer in Latin, and drop their ballot into a large urn. Three designated cardinals then read each ballot aloud. A Catholic man needs two-thirds of the votes to be elected the next pope. 

When a session concludes without a man reaching the required majority, the ballots are burned, causing black smoke to emanate from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. However, if a pope is elected they are burned with the addition of a chemical agent, producing the characteristic white smoke signaling the election of a pope. (All of this is pretty well depicted in the movie, though Bunson said some things were “a little truncated for the sake of the audience” and for the sake of dramatic tension.)

Just as the movie depicts, once the doors of the Sistine Chapel close, it does indeed normally fall to the dean of the College of Cardinals to move the process along. (Though perhaps with fewer speeches as are depicted in the film, as those would have been done during the preceding general congregations). 

In the case of the imminent real-life conclave, however, things will look a little different because of the advanced ages of some of the key figures. 

Only cardinals who are younger than age 80 are eligible to take part in the conclave; these are the “cardinal electors.” Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, 91, is the current (again, real-life) dean — i.e., the most senior member of the College of Cardinals, elected from among the ranks of the cardinal bishops and confirmed by the pope. 

Re is too old to take part in the conclave, as is his vice dean, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri. So, the upcoming conclave will be directed by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the next eligible most senior cardinal bishop and the Vatican’s secretary of state. 

FICTION: The big twist

At the film’s climax, the cardinals inadvertently elect to the papacy a person who they believed to be a man — but in reality, the cardinal they elect, Benítez, is a biological woman who was raised as a male by her parents because she was born with an intersex condition.

CNA covered this aspect of the film in detail last October, with seminary rector Father Carter Griffin telling CNA that the Church’s constant teaching on this question, reiterated strongly by recent popes including Francis, is that the Church won’t — and in fact, can’t — ordain women.

In the case of the scenario depicted in the movie, Griffin explained that “a stable, secure, and well-ordered sexual identity is a necessary condition for priestly formation and ordination.” A biological female identifying as a male would not, in fact, be a male — and thus would be ineligible for the priesthood.

“It is our individual and unique creation as either male or female that identifies us as man or woman, not our subjective feelings or choices,” he said.

In priestly ordination, Griffin explained, a man is conformed to Christ in such a way that Jesus truly becomes present through him. Throughout his priestly ministry, but especially at Mass, the priest stands in the place of Christ who, as a bridegroom, lays down his life for his bride, the Church.

The priesthood, then, is a visible sign meant to point to the invisible reality of Christ’s presence as the “spouse” of his bride, the Church, which has always been understood to be female.

“Priests are conformed and united to Christ in such a way that they exercise their spiritual fatherhood in union with the feminine Church. Ordaining women would obscure that priestly paternity as well as the femininity of the bride of Christ,” Griffin said. 

While the Church is unable to ordain them, there are countless ways that women have long served and continue to serve the Catholic Church, such as through religious orders, in parish life, education, health care, in other Catholic ministries, and within Catholic families.

“God created us differently in part so that we could exercise different roles and complement one another as mothers and fathers. This is true in the natural sphere but also in the order of grace,” Griffin said.

A dire wolf puppy bred by Colossal Biosciences. / Credit: Colossal Biosciences

CNA Staff, Apr 25, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

A Texas-based bioengineering company sparked headlines across the world earlier this month when it announced it had done the seemingly impossible: brought a long-extinct species, the dire wolf, back from the dead. 

Here’s what Catholics should know about the dire wolves and what the Church might have to say about “resurrecting” extinct species of animals. 

A Colossal claim

Colossal Biosciences, a private company based in Dallas, announced April 7 the births of three genetically-modified puppies they say are not merely wolves but dire wolves — a species that roamed the Americas as a top predator for tens of thousands of years but which went extinct naturally around 12,500 years ago. 

The company was cofounded by the famed Harvard geneticist George Church, who has been active in the field of species “de-extinction” for decades. (Its investors include George R. R. Martin, author of the “Game of Thrones” fantasy series; dire wolves feature prominently in those stories.)

To create the puppies, scientists extracted and sequenced ancient DNA from two dire wolf fossils, compared the ancient genomes to those of several living relatives including present-day wolves, and identified gene variants specific to dire wolves. They then edited a donor genome from a gray wolf and cloned those cells into dog eggs before finally transferring the embryo into a surrogate dog.

Colossal says the puppies were born in October 2024 and are currently “thriving” on a vast, secure ecological preserve in an undisclosed location. (Comparisons to “Jurassic Park” were swift and inevitable.) 

Long term, Colossal says it plans to restore the species “in secure and expansive ecological preserves, potentially on Indigenous land.”

Scientists, journalists, and critics were quick to scrutinize Colossal’s claims that the creature they had created was truly a dire wolf — i.e. the first truly “de-extincted” species. National Geographic said the puppies are “better understood as slightly-modified gray wolves rather than true dire wolves.”

Nevertheless, some scientists have hailed the announcement as a major breakthrough and have expressed hope that the technology Colossal is perfecting could be used to help existing endangered species come back from the brink.

The Church’s response to gene editing

“Gene editing” is not in itself a new technology, and the Church has addressed its use several times in recent decades, noting that the practice holds promise for curing and preventing diseases, alleviating suffering, and promoting the common good, even among human beings. 

Recent technological advances, such as CRISPR, have made gene editing simpler, cheaper, and more effective — but also has brought with it serious new ethical concerns. 

In 2018, for example, a Chinese scientist announced the birth of CRISPR-modified babies whose genes had been edited while they were still embryos. The announcement was widely criticized in the scientific community as unethical and the scientist, He Jiankui, later faced punitive measures from the Chinese government for violating regulations surrounding gene editing. 

From a Catholic perspective, the technology is addressed chiefly in the Church’s 2008 instruction Dignitas Personae. 

In a section on gene therapy, Dignitas Personae notes that gene editing procedures used on somatic (body) cells “for strictly therapeutic purposes are in principle morally licit,” while at the same time firmly rejecting the editing of human “germ line” cells such as sperm and eggs, since such alterations could be heritable and harm the resulting babies. The instruction also warned against a “eugenic mentality” that aims to improve the human gene pool. 

So the Church has said that the use of gene editing in humans can be beneficial within certain ethical parameters, but what about a Catholic view of its use in animals?

Taking a broad view, the Church teaches that mankind was granted dominion over the “mineral, vegetable, and animal resources of the universe” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2456) but that this dominion is “not absolute” and comes with important moral obligations, particularly a view to “the quality of life of [one’s] neighbor, including generations to come,” as well as “a religious respect for the integrity of creation” (CCC, 2415). 

Pope Francis in his expansive 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ further addresses a Catholic view of ecology as it relates to the natural world. In his encyclical, Francis notes that humans are called to respect creation and its inherent laws, recognizing that God founded the earth “by wisdom” (Prv 3:19). Creatures are not to be “completely subordinated to the good of human beings, as if they have no worth in themselves” (Laudato Si’, 69). 

Father Tad Pacholczyk, a senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center, commented to CNA that while Colossal’s claims are, from a biotechnology standpoint, very impressive, he has “lingering questions about the basic motivation behind the endeavor.”

“Biodiversity is a feature of the planet that has waxed and waned over eons. During the history of the earth we have had, by some estimates, 5 billion different species. The majority of these species have been wiped out by a range of forces, whether volcanic eruptions, habitat destruction, disease, asteroid impacts, etc. Why presume we have a duty to bring any of them back?” Pacholczyk said in emailed comments to CNA. 

Other scientists have pointed out that breeding an animal with many of the same traits as an extinct animal — in the dire wolf’s case, chiefly a white coat and large size — is not the same as “bringing back” a long-gone species. Scientists could breed elephants with hairy brown coats, for example, but those would still be elephants, not wooly mammoths. 

“To bring back the real dire wolf would require synthesizing and manipulating billions of DNA base pairs and arranging them into chromosomes, which current technology is unable to do,” Pacholczyk said. 

Moreover, Pacholczyk opined that Colossal’s decisions to focus their efforts heavily on animals with broad cultural appeal, such as dire wolves and wooly mammoths, may be driven by the need to attract investors, because “the expenses involved in de-extinction efforts are staggering.”

“Ethically speaking, one wonders if such enormous expenditures can really be justified, when far lower financial commitments could safeguard habitats and bio-niches of currently threatened species,” Pacholczyk said. 

(Back) home on the range

OK, so what about Colossal’s plans to someday reintroduce the wolves into the natural environment? After all, there have been success stories when it comes to human-led reintroduction of species previously dislodged from an ecosystem — including, perhaps most famously, the reintroduction of gray wolves in Yellowstone National Park in 1995.

Practically speaking, if Colossal’s reintegration does happen, the dire wolves will find themselves in an ecosystem that is dramatically different from the one in which they previously lived — not least because of the fact that almost the entirety of human society has arisen in the time since it went extinct. Also, as the New York Times notes, they would encounter an environment where they would potentially have to compete with existing gray wolves.

The upshot is that despite many advances in recent years, scientists’ grasp of the “intricacies of ecosystems on the planet is quite limited, because these systems involve a plethora of complex variables, and to suppose we can really forecast which ecosystems would benefit from the reintroduction of certain de-extincted animals is highly doubtful,” Pacholczyk said. 

“There also remains the perennially important ‘law of unintended consequences,’ where we could end up reintroducing a de-extincted species only to be caught off guard when it suddenly expanded out of control, ravaged specific habitats and wiped out other species.”

Echoing Pacholczyk, Laura Altfeld, an associate professor of biology and ecology and chair of the Department of Natural Sciences at St. Leo University, a Catholic college in Florida, told CNA in written comments that there could be potential downsides to reintroducing extinct species to existing ecosystems, both for the introduced animals and for the rest of the ecosystem. 

This is because, in part, most ecosystems as they exist today are highly modified and degraded as a result of human activities, which could pose challenges for reintroduced species if they lack the necessary adaptations that modern species have developed to deal with a world dominated by humans.

If done right, however, there is potential that reintroduced species could aid in “restoring ecosystem functions and boosting biodiversity in some of our ecosystems,” Altfeld continued, especially in high latitudes, such as the Arctic, where climate change continues to rapidly alter ecological conditions.

Whatever happens next in terms of a potential reintroduction, a program as ambitious as Colossal’s should be driven by “ecological expert consensus” and not commercialism, she cautioned. 

“This technology is incredibly powerful and should absolutely be used with caution, and with serious forethought into animal welfare considerations and clear connection to purpose (conservation, for example).”

Altfeld did go on to add, however, that Colossal’s technology could be helpful as a means of saving existing species at risk of or on the verge of extinction. 

Among some endangered species which have very small remaining populations, a lack of genetic diversity caused by inbreeding can be a big problem. Scientists are already using a technique called genetic rescue, which involves introducing genetic material from a similar species, through outbreeding, in order to try to save an endangered one. 

“There are endangered animal species whose wild and captive populations are so significantly genetically bottlenecked that they will most certainly go extinct without intervention. Any technology that can be used to reintroduce genetic diversity has the potential to be of extreme benefit,” she wrote.

The potential use of Colossal’s technological advances to aid in the genetic diversity of endangered populations “is the most valuable, in my opinion. And the fact that they are willing to work with conservation researchers globally to aid in species conservation is impressive,” Altfeld said. 

Altfeld said she plans to continue to engage her zoology students in conversations about the ethics of gene editing, with the dire wolf announcement just the latest in a continuing line of “rapid advancement” in the field that she expects will continue. 

“Our students will be moving into careers that may directly engage with the technologies that are being developed by Colossal, so engaging them in conversations about the ethical and scientific issues surrounding genetic engineering are essential for us as educators,” she concluded.  

“I encourage everyone to do the same, whether they are Catholic or not. There is never a downside to becoming knowledgeable and conversant with one another, even about the most challenging and controversial of topics.”

This article was updated on April 25, 2025, at 12:42 p.m. ET to note that the modified wolf genome was cloned into dog eggs and implanted into a surrogate dog, not wolf eggs and a surrogate wolf as originally written.

ROME (CNS) -- "The Virgin Mary told me, 'Prepare the tomb.'" That is what Pope Francis said Mary told him when he was discerning whether to be buried in the historic Marian church where his body will be laid to rest April 26. 

Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, coadjutor archpriest of Rome's Basilica of St. Mary Major, discussed the pope's decision to be buried at the papal basilica some three miles outside the Vatican during a news conference April 25, the day before the late pope's funeral.

The cardinal said that during a meeting with the pope in 2022 to discuss a remodeling project in the basilica, he asked the pope if he wanted to be buried there given his devotion to the Marian icon "Salus Populi Romani" ("health of the Roman people"), which is housed in the church.

"In that moment he said no, because the popes are buried in St. Peter's Basilica," Cardinal Makrickas said, but after a week the pope called him to his Vatican residence and shared what Mary told him. 

In that conversation the pope added, "I am happy that Our Lady hasn't forgotten about me," the cardinal told reporters, and he was asked to begin preparing the tomb.

The basilica is the first and oldest Marian basilica in the West -- it began construction in 432, though it was completed in its present state in 1743.

Pope Francis specified that he did not want his tomb placed in the Pauline Chapel, where the Marian icon is on display, because "in this chapel people must pray to the Lord, venerate Our Lady, not look at the tomb of a pope," Cardinal Makrickas said. 

The late pope visited the Marian icon in St. Mary Major before and after each of his 47 international trips and after each of his hospital stays. He told people he also had visited it each time he came to Rome as a cardinal.

His connection to the basilica is also tied to his Jesuit roots: St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, celebrated his first Mass there in 1538, making it a fitting burial place for the church's first Jesuit pope.

Cardinal Makrickas noted that the basilica's location is also symbolically important. It is connected by a straight road to the Basilica of St. John Lateran, where St. Francis of Assisi once sought papal approval for his new religious community. According to tradition, Pope Innocent III had a dream of a humble man holding up that basilica to stop its collapse -- a vision believed to foreshadow St. Francis' mission.

Pope Francis, the first to use that papal name, chose it in honor of St. Francis of Assisi.

The pope's burial place will be near the icon that was so dear to him as well as to an altar dedicated to St. Francis, so "the place seems truly perfect," Cardinal Makrickas said.

Pope Francis will be the first pope buried at the basilica since Pope Clement IX who died in 1669. The last pope to be buried outside the Vatican was Pope Leo XIII who was buried in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in 1903.

A photo of the Pope Francis' tomb released by the Vatican April 24 showed it to be simple, adorned with an enlarged rendering  of his pectoral cross and made of white Ligurian marble -- a nod to the land of his Italian grandparents -- while bearing only the name "Franciscus."

"I see it as a connection between the decision to not live in the Apostolic Palace, but rather at Casa Santa Marta," Cardinal Makrickas said. "His life also ends in a place that is different and simple."