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Seattle, Wash., Apr 23, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles welcomed more than 5,500 converts into the Catholic Church this Easter — the largest number in over a decade and a striking figure for the nation’s biggest archdiocese, according to leaders there.

Father Juan Ochoa, who directs the archdiocesan Office for Divine Worship, has been watching the numbers closely and told CNA he didn’t expect the surge.

“We usually see a 10% increase from the year before,” he said. “This year, it was about 45%. That’s significant.”

The group includes nearly 2,800 people baptized at the Easter Vigil — individuals with no previous affiliation to Christianity. 

Just as many were already baptized in other Christian traditions and received the sacraments of confirmation and the Eucharist in Catholic parishes across Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara counties.

For many, the choice to enter the Church was deeply personal. Ochoa said the conversions this year felt different than other years.

“I can’t point to one reason,” he said. “It’s not just one thing. I think COVID made people reflect. For some, it created space to ask questions. And maybe now they’re ready.”

The release of the 2025 conversion numbers comes just after the death of Pope Francis. Ochoa didn’t hesitate when asked about the late pontiff’s impact. 

“He gave the Church a different image,” he said. “He reached people who didn’t feel seen. And because of that, some people started looking at the Church in a new way.”

For Ochoa, the late pope’s legacy lives on in the very people coming through the Church’s doors this Easter. 

“They’re not here because someone pressured them,” he said. “They’re here because something called them.”

He’s seen a growing number of parishes embrace that same outward focus. “Some pastors are realizing it’s not enough to keep doing what we’ve always done,” he said. “They’re asking how to reach the people who aren’t here yet.”

That shift has taken time. Ochoa pointed to the Office of New Evangelization and Parish Life, which has helped parishes think more intentionally about outreach. Instead of applying a single model everywhere, the office works with local leaders to understand what’s possible — and needed — in their community.

“I’ve worked in three different parishes,” Ochoa said. “Even with similar demographics, you can’t just copy and paste. What works in one place might not in another. Culture matters.”

He also credited a range of Catholic voices on social media and digital platforms for helping people learn about the faith — especially those who might have been hesitant to walk into a church right away. 

Elsewhere in the country, other dioceses are also reporting increases in adult conversions. Thomas Rzeznik, an associate professor of history at Seton Hall University in New Jersey and co-editor of the quarterly journal American Catholic Studies, believes it reflects a deeper moment. 

“There’s a hunger for meaning right now,” he said. “People are searching for something more grounded. And when they find a parish that’s welcoming and prepared, that can make all the difference.”

Even as national data show a decline in infant baptisms, the growth in adult initiations tells another story. Ochoa sees that contrast every year.

“Infant baptisms reflect culture, tradition,” he said. “But adult baptisms — that’s personal. It’s someone deciding, for themselves, that this is what they want. That matters.”

Cardinals present in Rome gather for the second General Congregation and approve the programme for the Novemdiales, the ancient nine-day period of mourning for the late Pope Francis.

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CNA Staff, Apr 23, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Pope Francis died on April 21 at the age of 88. As Catholics around the world mourn his passing, a highly regulated process has now begun that will see the pope’s earthly body laid to rest and a conclave convened to elect his successor. 

As of this moment, the chair of St. Peter is vacant — and you may have seen the phrases “sede vacante” and “interregnum” being used to describe the present period. Here’s a breakdown of what those phrases mean. 

What does the phrase ‘sede vacante’ mean? 

“Sede vacante” is Latin for “the see being vacant,” indicating the period when a pope has died or resigned and a successor has not yet been chosen.

Sede vacante begins at the moment a pope dies or resigns and concludes when his successor accepts his election as pope. The College of Cardinals is entrusted with governing the Church during the sede vacante, but only for ordinary business and matters that cannot be postponed.

The phrase doesn’t only apply to the office of the papacy — if a bishop who is the ordinary of a diocese dies or is removed from his post by the pope, the episcopal see is “sede vacante” until a successor is appointed.

It’s worth noting that the phrase “sede vacante” has also gained usage among some Catholics who erroneously believe that the chair of St. Peter has been empty, with no legitimate pope, for decades. Adherents to this view are known as “sedevacantists” and are, under canon law, in schism because they reject the pope’s authority.

What is the ‘interregnum’?

“Interregnum” is a Latin word meaning “between the reigns” and can refer to the period between the reigns of any two rulers. In the case of the papacy, it refers to the period between the day of the death or resignation of one pope (which is counted as the first day of interregnum) and the election of his successor.

In papal documents, most notably Universi Dominici Gregis, issued by Pope John Paul II in 1996, the interregnum is referred to as the “vacancy of the Apostolic See.”

Three distinct phases take place during a papal interregnum: 

1. The Nine Days of Mourning (Novendiales)

The pope’s body is currently lying in state in St. Peter’s Basilica, permitting the faithful to pay their respects. Between the fourth and sixth day after the pope’s death, a solemn funeral for the pope is celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica by the dean of the College of Cardinals, with the other cardinals. (Obviously, this is not done in the case of a papal resignation.)

The College of Cardinals declares an official mourning period of nine days, called the “Novendiales,” typically beginning on the day of the pope’s funeral. On each of the nine days a different cardinal or Church official celebrates a public funeral rite for the Holy Father, following the Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis (2024). 

Pope Francis had said that when he dies, he will be buried at the Basilica of St. Mary Major, and not — as has been the custom of popes for over a century — at the Vatican.

2. The preparation for the conclave

Preparations for the conclave to elect the new pope are begun after the papal funeral. Normally, the day on which the conclave begins is to be the 15th day after the death of a pope, the 16th day of the interregnum.

The College of Cardinals was given the faculty under Universi Dominici Gregis to defer its beginning “for serious reasons” up to the 20th day after death (21st day of the vacancy). However, under changes made by Pope Benedict XVI, the College of Cardinals is granted the faculty to start the conclave early if “it is clear that all the cardinal electors are present; they can also defer, for serious reasons, the beginning of the election for a few days more.”

3. The conclave

The conclave itself takes place in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel under strict oath of secrecy; all of the cardinals are under penalty of automatic excommunication if they break the oath.

Pope Francis' funeral Mass will mark the beginning of an ancient tradition of holding nine consecutive days of mourning, which will be marked by Eucharistic celebrations held in suffrage for the late Pope.

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Vatican City, Apr 23, 2025 / 06:06 am (CNA).

Pope Francis’ coffin was carried Wednesday morning in solemn procession to St. Peter’s Basilica, where the late pontiff will lie in state for three days for mourners to pay their final respects and say goodbye.

The rite began in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta, where Francis lived for the 12 years of his pontificate and where he was placed in a simple, zinc-lined coffin on April 21, hours after he died at the age of 88.

Members of the lay confraternity of chair-bearers, called “sediari pontifici,” carried Pope Francis’ coffin — led in procession by priests, bishops, and cardinals — through Vatican City and to St. Peter’s Square, where thousands of mourners waited in total silence for a glimpse of their former pope. 

To the sounds of bell tolls and Latin chants, Pope Francis, for the last time, passed over the same road he took hundreds of times before, when he would greet the crowds gathered to see him during turns around St. Peter’s Square in his popemobile. 

Flanked by eight Swiss Guards, the coffin was carried into St. Peter’s Square to loud applause, breaking through the solemn silence. The pope was carried across the left side of the square, up the incline, and through the main door of St. Peter’s Basilica. 

The choir chanted Psalms, the Kyrie, and the Litany of Saints as Francis’ body was carried down the center aisle of the Vatican basilica and his coffin placed on a low, wooden platform in front of the Altar of the Confession.

Four Swiss Guards stood watch as clergy and laypeople prayed together for Pope Francis following the rite of the “translation of the coffin of the Roman Pontiff Francis,” according to the Ordo Exsequiarum Romani Pontificis, the Church’s liturgical book for the funeral rites of popes. 

The camerlengo, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, presided over the rite, which included incensing and sprinkling the papal coffin with holy water, the sung proclamation of a passage from the Gospel of John 17: 24-26, intercessory prayers, and a prayer that God will “hear us as we pray in union with all the saints and welcome into the assembly of your elect the soul of your servant, our Pope Francis, who placed his trust in the Church’s prayer.” 

The prayer ended with the congregation singing the Our Father in Latin and the Salve Regina. The cardinals and bishops in attendance silently approached the coffin in two lines to pay their final respects, and around 45 minutes later, just before 11 a.m. local time, the first mourners were allowed to enter the Vatican basilica to see the pope. 

Pope Francis will lie in state in St. Peter’s Basilica for the public to see, pray, and say goodbye, until the evening of April 25, when Farrell will close the coffin in preparation for the funeral Mass on the morning of April 26, which will be in St. Peter’s Square. 

April 26 will also mark the first day of a formal period of nine days of prayer and mourning in the Catholic Church, called the “Novendiales.” 

After his funeral Mass, the late pontiff will be buried in the Basilica of St. Mary Major, as he requested in his last testament. 

The news of the death of Pope Francis came like a sharp wave to break our celebration of the resurrection of Christ on Easter Monday. Death during a festivity tends to ruin it, yet our hearts cannot but pour out words of thanksgiving to God for the life of an ancestor in faith.

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Caritas Internationalis Secretary General Alistair Dutton recounts Pope Francis’ great humor as well as his strong advocacy for social, environmental and ecological justice.

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Israeli President Isaac Herzog offers a message of condolence on the death of Pope Francis, recalling his "deep faith and boundless compassion."

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Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich remembers Pope Francis and his legacy, particularly regarding the Synod of Bishops.

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Mourners on Wednesday morning began filling St. Peter’s Square to await their turn to pay their final respects to Pope Francis, whose remains will lie in state inside the basilica for the next three days prior to his funeral Mass on Saturday.