The Church of St. Luke

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The conclave to elect a new pope, scheduled to begin May 7, is governed by two texts: a rule book and a prayer book.

The rule book is the apostolic constitution, "Universi Dominici Gregis" ("Shepherd of the Lord's Whole Flock"), which was issued by St. John Paul II in 1996 and amended by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007 and again in 2013.

The prayer book is the "Ordo Rituum Conclavis" ("Rites of the Conclave"), which was approved by St. John Paul II in 1998, but not released until after his death in 2005. If Pope Francis made any adjustments to the rites, they had not been announced as of April 30.

The "Ordo Rituum Conclavis," which has prayers in Latin with an Italian translation, begins by noting that the election of a pope "is prepared for and takes place with liturgical actions and constant prayer." 

The rites of the conclave begin with the public Mass "for the election of the Roman pontiff," which was to be celebrated at 10 a.m. May 7 in St. Peter's Basilica. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, will be the main celebrant.

According to the "Ordo," Cardinal Re will begin by praying: "O God, eternal pastor, you who govern your people with a father's care, give your church a pontiff acceptable to you for his holiness of life and wholly consecrated to the service of your people."

The Mass for the election of the pope is the only rite in the book to be celebrated publicly before the new pope is presented to the world.

After celebrating the morning Mass, the rule book calls for the cardinals to gather in the late afternoon in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace and then process into the Sistine Chapel. 

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the highest-ranking member of the College of Cardinals who is under the age of 80 and eligible to enter the conclave, addresses the cardinals: "After having celebrated the divine mysteries, we now enter into conclave to elect the Roman pontiff. The whole church, united with us in prayer, invokes the grace of the Holy Spirit so that we elect a worthy pastor of the entire flock of Christ."

In a procession behind the cross, the cardinals walk into the Sistine Chapel singing a litany of saints of the East and West and a series of invocations to Christ with the refrain, "Save us, Lord."

When everyone is in his place in the chapel, the cardinals chant the ancient invocation of the Holy Spirit, "Veni, Creator Spiritus."

The cardinals then take an oath to "faithfully and scrupulously observe" the rules for electing a pope. Each swears that if he is elected, he will "faithfully fulfill the Petrine ministry as pastor of the universal church and will strenuously affirm and defend the spiritual and temporal rights as well as the freedom of the Holy See."

They also promise to keep everything having to do with the election secret.

When the last cardinal has placed his hand on the Book of the Gospels and sworn the oath, Archbishop Diego Ravelli, Vatican master of liturgical ceremonies, says: "Extra omnes," ordering all those not directly involved in the conclave out of the Sistine Chapel. 

During their general congregation meetings, the cardinals selected Italian Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, retired preacher of the papal household who at 90 is not eligible to vote in the conclave, to remain inside the chapel to offer a reflection on their responsibilities in electing a new pope.

After the meditation, he and Archbishop Ravelli will leave the chapel.

The cardinals decide together whether they will cast one ballot the first evening; traditionally they have done so, burning the ballots with a chemical additive that produces black smoke pouring from the Sistine Chapel chimney.

After that, two ballots can be cast each morning and two each afternoon until a candidate garners two-thirds of the votes. On the fourth day, if no one has been elected, the cardinals pause for extended prayer.

Each day of the conclave, the cardinals recite morning and evening prayer together and concelebrate Mass. They have time for prayer before each ballot is cast and before the ballots are counted.

As each cardinal places his vote in an urn on a table in front of Michelangelo's fresco of the Last Judgment, he promises that his vote was cast for the candidate he believes deserves to be elected.

If the first ballot of the morning or of the afternoon session does not result in an election, a second vote begins immediately, and the two ballots are burned together. 

When someone reaches the two-thirds threshold -- 89 votes if, as reported, 133 cardinals enter the conclave -- he will be asked by Cardinal Parolin, "Do you accept your canonical election as supreme pontiff?"

Neither the "Ordo" nor the rule book provides a formula for the assent and neither recognizes the possibility that the person elected will refuse. The second question asked is: "With what name do you wish to be called?"

If the elected man already is a bishop, once he accepts the office, he "immediately is the bishop of the church of Rome, the true pope and head of the college of bishops; he acquires full and supreme power over the universal church."

The ballots, along with the cardinals' notes or running tallies of the votes, are burned with a chemical additive to produce white smoke and announce to the world that there has been a successful election.

The cardinals approach the new pope and pay homage to him, then sing the "Te Deum" hymn of thanks to God.

Then the senior cardinal deacon, French Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, prefect of the Apostolic Signature, the Holy See's highest court, goes to the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica and declares to the public, "Habemus papam" ("We have a pope"). 

Refugees from Mexico. / Credit: David Peinado Romero/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 29, 2025 / 15:49 pm (CNA).

Utah’s Catholic Community Services will continue to operate its refugee support programs despite federal funding cuts after receiving well over $1 million in donations.

In early April, the group, which is based in Salt Lake City, announced that its refugee resettlement program was “winding down” and would eventually close amid major federal funding cuts. The program normally provides “hundreds of refugees the assistance they need to recover from lives dismantled by persecution, war, or violence.”

The organization reported that it lost more than $2.5 million of annual aid and “could not sustain the program” without it.

In a statement on Monday, however, the group said that, following the announcement, “something remarkable happened. Our community rallied.”

The organization said it will no longer be forced to close the refugee program or end its support for Utah-based immigrant families.

“Thanks to a generous lead gift and an outpouring of support from individuals, foundations, and partners, CCS will continue offering resettlement services through a new, privately funded model,” the group said.

Catholic Community Services said it has raised $1.5 million to use over the next four years and said it will continue its work “on a smaller scale.” The majority of the funds came from one donor who wishes to remain anonymous.

The Catholic organization is now asking for another $1 million from “the broader community.” It stated that without this additional money, the organization “will be forced to scale back services and make further cuts to the program.”

The funds will help “refugee clients” by focusing on “six key pillars”: extended case management, housing assistance, employment readiness, youth education support, mental health services, and volunteer coordination and community engagement.

“These services aim to address the most urgent needs of refugee families and foster long-term self-sufficiency,” the organization said.

“While the program will operate at a reduced capacity, its core services — and the impact on the lives of those we serve — remain as vital as ever. This transformation ensures we can uphold our mission while adapting to a changing national landscape.”

Canada’s prime minister and Liberal Party leader Mark Carney applauds at a victory party in Ottawa, Ontario, on April 29, 2025. Prime Minister Mark Carney won Canada’s election on April 28, 2025, leading his Liberal Party to a new term in power. / Credit: DAVE CHAN/AFP via Getty Images

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 29, 2025 / 11:57 am (CNA).

Canadians voted Monday to elect Liberal Party leader Mark Carney to a full term as prime minister following a tight race against his conservative challenger, Pierre Poilievre.

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he hosts the annual Easter Egg Roll on the South Lawn of the White House on April 21, 2025, in Washington, D.C. / Credit: MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Staff, Apr 29, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

U.S. President Donald Trump’s approval ratings are significantly higher among Christians than among the religiously unaffiliated, according to a poll by Pew Research released to coincide with Trump’s first 100 days in office. 

Trump’s approval rating continues to be highest among white evangelical Protestants, while Catholics are almost split at 42%, according to the poll.

Across the board, Christians gave Trump a higher approval rating than nonaffiliated Americans by more than 20 percentage points (48% versus 26%, respectively). 

The approval rating for President Donald Trump among Christians is also 8 points higher than among U.S. adults overall.

Among Christians, white evangelical Protestants had the highest approval rating of Trump at 72%. Black Protestants had the lowest approval rating of the current president at 10%.  

Trump’s overall approval rating with white Catholics was significantly higher than with Hispanic Catholics, standing at 52% and 26%, respectively. 

Pew surveyed more than 3,500 U.S. adults from April 7–13 for the poll. 

Policies and ethics  

Forty-three percent of Christians found the Trump administration’s ethical standards were “excellent” or “good.”

When asked about the ethical standards of top Trump administration officials, about 7 in 10 white evangelicals rated them as “excellent” or “good.” Nearly half of white Catholics and a quarter of Hispanic Catholics agreed. 

About half of Christians approved of the Trump administration’s action to end diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies and its budget cuts to federal departments, while 46% approved of the substantially increased tariffs on imports.

For these various Trump administration policies, approval rating points among Catholics sit in the 40s. 

Overall, 43% of Catholics approved of the Trump administration’s anti-DEI action; 47% approved of federal department funding cuts; and 41% approved of increased tariffs.

More than half of white Catholics surveyed (54%) said they approved of the anti-DEI initiative, while a large majority of Hispanic Catholics (69%) disapproved. 

In addition, 55% of white Catholics approved of cuts to federal departments and agencies while 65% of Hispanic Catholics disapproved. 

Another 70% of Hispanic Catholics disapproved of the increased tariffs, while 49% of white Catholics approved.

Across the various categories, Catholics do not vary from U.S. adults by more than 3 percentage points.

Trend now downward

This month Trump’s approval ratings dropped by 7% among U.S. adults overall, according to Pew. 

The drop comes in the wake of the Trump administration implementing a surge of tariffs on various foreign imports.  

Trump’s approval ratings dropped by 1 percentage point more among white Catholics than it did among the religiously nonaffiliated. 

The president’s approval rating declined within several categories among Christians. Among white Catholics and Black Protestants, his approval ratings had an 8-point drop. Among white evangelicals and the religiously nonaffiliated, it dropped by 6 and 7 points, respectively.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The next pope needs to continue the path set by Pope Francis: Promoting a church that is welcoming, listens to everyone and unifies, some members of the College of Cardinals told reporters April 29.

As members of the College of Cardinals head most days to the Vatican's New Synod Hall for their pre-conclave meetings, scores of reporters and camera operators rush toward them in a wave seeking information about the closed-door deliberations and insight into what they are looking for in a pope.

Speaking to reporters April 29, Cardinal Louis Sako, the Iraq-based patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, said the atmosphere among the cardinals is "fraternal and sincere."

Cardinal Jorge Jiménez Carvajal, the 83-year-old retired archbishop of Cartagena, Colombia, said there was "a great spirit of communion" even with the expression of many different opinions.

Cardinal John Ribat of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, 68, said the atmosphere was "free, welcoming" with everyone being open to one another. 

Cardinal Sako said there is a sense of responsibility "in finding someone who continues Francis' efforts." Asked to comment on the April 28 homily of Cardinal Baldassare Reina, who said the church cannot go backward, and whether this was the right direction for the church, Cardinal Sako said, "For me it is."

Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, retired archbishop of Vienna, 80, also agreed with the homily's message and said, "We are always moving forward. Do not be afraid."

Salvadoran Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chávez, 82, retired auxiliary bishop of San Salvador, said there is a sense that the church needs to be a kind of "utopia" where there is room "for everyone: 'todos, todos, todos."

The next pope could be a surprise, he said, just as Pope Francis was a surprise for most.

As the cardinals each get a turn to say what they see happening in the church and the world, and what they would like to see happen, Cardinal Rosa said the late pope made those priorities "very clear" in his brief final testament: the need for world peace and brotherhood among peoples.

Cardinal Ribat said the next pope should be "open to all," but there should also be "a way of kind of controlling, not in a bad way, but in a way that keeps everyone together and unites everyone and to journey together in that way."

So far most of the cardinals who have spoken at the general congregation have been from Europe, he added.

Nearly three-quarters of the 135 cardinal electors -- 99 of them -- were elevated to the college by Pope Francis. Fifty-two of them were named in the last three years, and 20 were named less than five months ago. There are a total of 252 cardinals in the whole college.

That means the cardinals have also spent the first six general congregation meetings trying to get to know each other better, Cardinal Rosa said. "We don't know each other yet."

Nonetheless, he and Cardinal Sako said they expect the conclave to be brief and last two to three days. While not revealing a name, Cardinal Sako said he already had a "very clear" idea of who he intended to vote for.

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Contributing to this story was Justin McLellan at the Vatican.
 

WASHINGTON – Bishop Brendan J. Cahill of the Diocese of Victoria, the bishop-promoter of Stella Maris in the United States, will commemorate National Maritime Day and the Catholic Church’s observation of the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for Mariners and People of the Sea on May 22. The maritime apostolate for the Catholic Church that serves those who work or travel on the high seas and work in ports is known as “Stella Maris” (Star of the Sea). 

The men and women who make their living working on the seas include merchants, sailors, seafarers, fishermen, port personnel and many others in the maritime industry whose work is vital to global commerce. The work of seafarers ensures that raw materials, food, medicines and countless other products are transported to keep the global economy moving.

The nature of maritime work means they are not always a visible presence in the community, and seafarers make great sacrifices with their families to carry out their work. Stella Maris chaplains, deacons and lay ministers serve at ports across the United States to welcome them and be a network of support for them and their families. 

“On National Maritime Day, we thank our brothers and sisters who work as seafarers for their dedication. We also seek the intercession of Our Lady, Star of the Sea -- that she protect and guide those in this important industry that is vital to global commerce,” said Bishop Cahill. 

Commemoration in the Dioceses

In commemoration of National Maritime Day, Bishop Cahill is encouraging dioceses in the United States to remember seafarers during Mass. Dioceses may also wish to consider holding events to support and thank seafarers and raise public awareness of the contributions they make to our country.  

Commemoration in Washington, D.C.

Bishop Cahill will celebrate the Votive Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Star of the Sea, on Saturday, May 24, 2025, at 12:10 p.m. in the Crypt Church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (400 Michigan Ave. NE; Washington, D.C.  20017)

Jubilee Year 2025

Pope Francis has designated the 2025 Holy Year as a time to renew ourselves as “Pilgrims of Hope.” The Vatican has appointed the Italian naval ship Amerigo Vespucci, as a Jubilee church and pilgrimage site, providing seafarers the opportunity to be part of the Holy Year celebrations. A pilgrimage to the ship will allow the faithful to gain a plenary indulgence during the Jubilee Year. Read more about the Amerigo Vespucci from Catholic News Service in Rome: https://catholicreview.org/chapel-onboard-historic-italian-naval-ship-designated-a-jubilee-church/. 

For more information on the ministry of Stella Maris, please visit: https://www.usccb.org/stellamaris.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- True discipleship is not measured by the creeds Christians recite or the theology they know, but by how deeply they love, a cardinal said at a memorial Mass for Pope Francis.

"It is not the profession of faith, the theological knowledge or the sacramental practice that guarantees participation in the joy of God," said Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, archpriest of St. Peter's Basilica, "but the qualitative and quantitative involvement in the human experience of the least of our brothers and sisters."

Celebrating Mass in the basilica April 29 for the fourth day of the "novendiali" -- nine days of mourning for Pope Francis marked with Masses -- the cardinal said that Christ's final judgment will not be based on knowledge or status, but on acts of mercy toward the hungry, the stranger, the sick and the imprisoned.

His message came as cardinals gathered in Rome said they are beginning to reflect on what qualities the next pope must embody. The cardinals are meeting daily in general congregation meetings ahead of the conclave, which is scheduled to begin May 7.

Concelebrating the Mass with Cardinal Gambetti were the cardinals who lead the three other papal basilicas in Rome: Cardinal Baldassare Reina, papal vicar of Rome and archpriest of the Basilica of St. John Lateran; Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, coadjutor archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major; and U.S. Cardinal James M. Harvey, archpriest of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

Patrick Kelly, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus, was seated in a front row.

Reflecting on the Gospel's imagery of sheep and goats, Cardinal Gambetti explained that those who are welcomed into God's kingdom are not those who sought independence and self-interest, but those who lived with gentleness, solidarity and compassion.

"At the personal and institutional level, we must ask ourselves: which of these two styles do we embody?" he said.

Pope Francis' humanity, tenderness and commitment to peace touched believers and nonbelievers alike, the cardinal said. Quoting Edith Bruck, a Holocaust survivor, poet and friend of Pope Francis, Cardinal Gambetti said the late pope was "a man who loved, who wept, who invoked peace, who embraced and spread warmth wherever he went."

True evangelization, the cardinal said, does not come through grand proclamations but through humble acts of solidarity that reveal God's love in tangible ways.

"Who touches humanity touches God; who honors humanity honors God; who scorns humanity scorns God," he said.

Recalling Pope Francis' conviction that "all, all, all, are called to live in the church," Cardinal Gambetti reflected the on the episode from the Acts of the Apostles in which St. Peter meets Cornelius.

In that account, St. Peter enters the gentile's home despite Jewish custom forbidding him to do so, and, after preaching about Jesus, the Holy Spirit descends upon them both, and the apostle baptizes Cornelius.

The Gospel account is "an episode that, in an age that is globalized, secularized and thirsting for truth and love such as ours" reveals the first pope's attitude toward evangelization, the cardinal said: "Openness to the human person without reservation, gratuitous concern for others, sharing and deepening experiences to help every man and woman give credit to life, to the grace of creation."

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Reporting by CNS Rome is made possible by the Catholic Communication Campaign. Give to the CCC special collection in your diocese May 10-11 or any time at: https://bit.ly/CCC-give

null / Credit: ivanko80/Shutterstock

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Apr 28, 2025 / 16:52 pm (CNA).

A first-of-its-kind study that delves into public health insurance records found that more than 1 in 10 women who take the abortion pill mifepristone to complete a chemical abortion will suffer a serious health complication during the process.

The study of 865,727 patients between 2017 and 2023, which was published by the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) on April 28, discovered that 10.93% of women suffer at least one “serious adverse event” within 45 days of taking mifepristone for an abortion.

“This isn’t idle speculation; this is based on the largest data set that we know of,” Ryan T. Anderson, the president of EPPC and one of the study’s authors, told EWTN.

More than 4.7% were forced to visit an emergency room related to the abortion, more than 3.3% suffered hemorrhaging, and more than 1.3% got an infection. Thousands were hospitalized, more than 1,000 needed blood transfusions, and hundreds suffered from sepsis. Nearly 2,000 had a different life-threatening adverse event.

In 2.84% of cases, the chemical abortion was unsuccessful and was subsequently completed through a surgical abortion. In a few thousand cases, an ectopic pregnancy went undetected.

The EPPC study is the most comprehensive research on the subject to date and suggests that the controlled environment of prior clinical trials — some of which reported the rate of adverse events to be as low as 0.5% — may not reflect the real-world consequences of the widespread use of the abortion pill in an increasingly deregulated market.

As the study notes, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) deregulated mifepristone in 2016 under President Barack Obama’s administration and again in 2023 under President Joe Biden’s administration.

The FDA lowered the number of in-person doctor visits to obtain mifepristone from three to one in 2016 and then to zero in 2023. In 2016, the FDA also removed requirements that the drugs be dispensed by a physician and taken in an office and got rid of the follow-up appointment rule and the mandatory reporting of adverse events. In 2023, the FDA opened up mail delivery for the drugs by ending the rule that they must be dispersed in a doctor’s office.

Prior to the 2016 changes, mifepristone could only be used through the first seven weeks of pregnancy. The revision under Obama changed that to the first 10 weeks.

More than half of all abortions nationwide are now conducted with mifepristone. 

“Now, because of Obama and Biden, abortion pills are taken alone, at home, via mail order,” Anderson said in a joint statement with co-researcher Jamie Bryan Hall, the director of data analysis at EPPC.

“The abortion industry tells women that the abortion pill is as safe as Tylenol,” they said. “That is fundamentally false, and women deserve the truth. Because most women are denied the truth about the abortion drugs, they are terribly unprepared for subsequent complications.”

A British study from late last year confirmed that this was the case, with many women reporting that they were unprepared for the pain they experienced from the chemical abortion. Nearly half of them experienced more pain than they expected and some warned that the pain levels were “washed over,” “downplayed,” or “sugarcoated” during consultations.

Christina Francis, a practicing OB-GYN and the CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life OBGYNs, told CNA that EPPC’s data “confirms what we’re seeing in the real world” and that “even just based on my own clinical practice,” she knows “these drugs are not safe.”

Francis spoke about a patient she treated recently “who had ordered these drugs online.” The woman requested the abortion pill when she was nine weeks pregnant, but when she took them, she was “much further along … [than] when she first ordered the drugs” and suffered several health complications that required surgery.

She also discussed a colleague who treated a patient whose unborn child was expelled when the body was the “size of the palm of her hand,” which suggests the chemical abortion occurred past “the legal limit.”

“She saw her baby and it was very, very traumatic for her,” Francis said. “... This is happening in emergency rooms across the country.”

Father Tad Pacholczyk, a senior ethicist at the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC), told CNA that the report “reminds us again how these toxic agents do not even belong in the field of medicine, which at its core is a healing ministry, since they directly target the life of unborn human patients.”

“Rather than being left to their own devices, when overwhelming evidence indicates that this powerful pharmaceutical has a high probability of causing sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or other life-threatening outcomes, women are entitled to more restrictive regulation over those distributing these drugs, improved follow-up and surveillance in the aftermath of their self-administration,” Pacholczyk added.

EPPC urges Trump administration review

The researchers at EPPC encouraged President Donald Trump’s administration to review the current regulations and reimplement the safeguards that existed prior to the deregulation of the Obama and Biden administrations.

This would require three in-person doctor visits and confirmation that the woman’s pregnancy is still within the first seven weeks, as was originally required by the FDA. It would also require that the drug be prescribed by a physician and administered in person. It would also reestablish the mandatory reporting of adverse events.

“We’re hopeful the Trump administration will do the right thing,” Anderson told EWTN News.

Trump has promised that he would not ban the abortion pill but did not rule out regulating the drugs. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said earlier this year that he planned to investigate safety concerns related to mifepristone.

“Even pro-choice citizens should want to make sure that women make an informed choice, based on all the facts, and that any drugs they take are safe,” Anderson and Hall said in their joint statement provided to CNA.

Christina Francis agreed, emphasizing: “We cannot place abortion access above patient care and patient safety.”

“[This] should be something that all of us can agree on and come together on,” she said.

San Antonio is the state’s second most populous city. Texas is short roughly 660,000 affordable rental units for its lowest‑income residents, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. / Credit: f11photo/Shutterstock

Seattle, Wash., Apr 28, 2025 / 13:56 pm (CNA).

Texas lawmakers are weighing whether parish parking lots, ballfields, and spare acreage could help ease the state’s housing crunch.

House Bill 3172 — the so‑called Yes in God’s Backyard, or YIGBY, bill — would let churches and other faith institutions build mixed‑income housing on land they already own without running a gauntlet of rezoning hearings, provided at least half the units stay affordable.

Jennifer Carr Allmon, executive director of the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops, backs the proposal.

“Catholics believe that housing is a human right, and governments, the private sector, and the Church share responsibility to make sure people have a stable place to live,” she said in an interview with CNA. YIGBY, she added, “gives parishes a chance to rethink their campuses so they can create affordable homes and keep their ministries thriving.”

Allmon pointed to a century‑old parish that turned about an acre of underused land into a project that rebuilt its aging school and carved out deeply discounted apartments for seniors. She sees similar deals sprouting across the state once zoning barriers fall. Her stance draws on “The Right to a Decent Home,” a 1988 pastoral letter from the nation’s bishops urging Catholic entities to inventory property “and examine how it might better be put at the service of those who lack adequate shelter.”

Rep. Gary Gates, the bill’s House author, chairs the Land and Resource Management Committee. A Catholic lobbyist flagged the idea, he recalled in an interview: “Vacant church land was a great thought. Some churches — Catholic, evangelical, you name it — have a lot of land that’s just sitting there.” Gates drafted the bill soon after.

The measure would let congregations develop parcels they’ve held for at least five years, up to five acres at a time, without a full zoning change. Projects must stay under nonprofit control and meet affordability targets. 

Gates said the acreage cap is meant to stop massive master‑planned enclaves from claiming a religious exemption. The Senate passed its companion in March; the House version awaits a committee vote while Gov. Greg Abbott’s policy team reviews it. “Our session ends in five weeks,” Gates said. “Either we do this now or we wait a year and a half.”

The need is clear enough. Texas is short roughly 660,000 affordable rental units for its lowest‑income residents, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. In San Antonio alone, a 2024 nonprofit survey counted about 3,000 acres of underused church land inside city limits. 

Financing structures will vary, said Maddie Johnson, program director of the Church Properties Initiative at the University of Notre Dame, but ground leases “are a natural option in a YIGBY context because the emphasis is on the church remaining the landowner.”

Equity splits expose parishes to development risk that can be hard to understand, she cautioned. Community pushback is inevitable whenever density lands in a low‑rise neighborhood, yet church campuses may have an edge because they already break the single‑family pattern.

“Any kind of density introduced into a low‑density neighborhood is going to be opposed,” Johnson said, but the scale of most church sites “is already an interruption to that texture.”

Gates argues that unlocking church land tackles cost at its root. “Thirty percent of the cost of a house is the land,” he said. “Opening church land widens the supply overnight.” Homeowner groups in well‑heeled enclaves worry that subsidized apartments will dent property values, but Allmon believes real‑world examples calm fears.

“When people see a parish partner with a developer to add affordable housing and expand ministry, the objections fade,” she said.

If the House clears the bill, parishes could break ground as early as 2026. Catholic conferences in Colorado, Georgia, and Florida are pushing similar bills. 

“Vacant acreage can sit idle or serve the Gospel,” Allmon said. “This legislation lets us choose the latter.”

A patch depicting the late Pope Francis is seen on the jersey of San Lorenzo’s Spanish midfielder No. 10 Iker Muniain during the Argentine Professional Football League 2025 Apertura Tournament football match between San Lorenzo and Rosario Central at the Pedro Bidegain stadium in Buenos Aires on April 26, 2025. The late Pope Francis, Jorge Bergoglio, was a fan and member No. 88235 of Argentina’s San Lorenzo football club. / Credit: ALEJANDRO PAGNI/AFP via Getty Images

Dublin, Ireland, Apr 28, 2025 / 10:39 am (CNA).

Among the tens of thousands of mourners paying their respects before the coffin of Pope Francis late last week was Gianluigi Buffon, the Italian World Cup-winning goalkeeper.