The Bishop of San Bernardino, Alberto Rojas, has issued a decree dispensing Catholics from attending Sunday Mass in response to concerns about recent immigration enforcement actions. The last time attendance was made optional was during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Think of the faithful

John Andrews leads communications for the Diocese and said there’s been a climate of fear in their immigrant communities since the raids began weeks ago.

“ We’ve noticed it. We felt it. And then to compound the situation in our diocese, we’ve had two different Catholic churches where immigration enforcement agents have come on to church property and made arrests,” Andrews said.

The Diocese covers both Riverside and San Bernardino counties, with more than 1 million self-identifying Catholics spread across 94 parishes. One out of every five people living in both counties are foreign-born, according to data from the U.S. census.

In the days and weeks following the ICE sweeps, there have been growing questions to Bishop Rojas from worried congregants.

“A lot of people come to him and say, ‘Bishop, is it really smart for me to attend mass? Do I have to do the weekly obligation?’” Andrews said. “And I think that was weighing heavily on him.”

How we got here

Church law allows a bishop to dispense the faithful from usual duties — including attend Mass — when he judges it contributes to their spiritual good. Bishop Rojas decided that the fears experienced by his congregants were a “grave inconvenience” to that spiritual good, according to the decree.

Along with an excuse from Sunday Mass, the decree encouraged alternative spiritual practices such as praying the rosary or attending virtual services.

It also ordered pastors and ministers to provide “compassionate support to those affected by this fear,” and said the dispensation would be in place until the circumstances which caused the decree “are sufficiently resolved.”

Church officials said they hope the decree does not have to be in place for too long.

“We want people to feel free to be able to come to church,” Andrews said. “It really kind of depends on whether these enforcement tactics continue the way they have been.”

A day after Bishop Rojas issued his decree he followed up with a message on the Diocese Facebook page, reiterating the role of parishes to support affected Catholics in their connection to the church at this time.

“Please continue to pray for our immigrant brothers and sisters. ” Bishop Rojas wrote.

Fears across the region

It’s not just Catholic churches that have weighed in amid escalating immigration actions. Last week, the Mayor of Perris in Riverside County took to Instagram to warn constituents about ICE enforcement in the city.

“Do not go out unless necessary. Stay at home and do not open the door to strangers. This message is for awareness and safety.” Mayor Michael M. Vargas said in a video post.

At Cal State L.A. this past week Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Heather Lattimer sent a letter to faculty accounting for and responding to fears from students over taking public transit and driving to campus.

In the letter Lattimer pointed to school policies in place for professors to give excused absences and alternative make-up work to concerned students.

She also wrote that faculty can elect to offer students to join classes remotely in extraordinary circumstances.

Fall semester for the school begins on August 18.

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The cardinals set the date after arriving for the first day of informal meetings following Pope Francis’ funeral Saturday. In a chaotic scene, journalists shouted questions about the mood inside and whether there was unity. A reporter for a satirical Italian television program asked whether an Italian cardinal who has been convicted by the Vatican criminal court on finance-related charges would be allowed to vote.

The conclave could have opened as early as May 5, but the cardinals gave themselves extra time to speak in more informal sessions that include cardinals over age 80, who will not be allowed into the Sistine Chapel once the conclave begins. They will next meet on Tuesday morning,

“There is the hope of unity,” said Argentine Cardinal Ángel Sixto Rossi, the 66-year-old archbishop of Cordoba who Francis made a cardinal in 2023.

Many cardinals cited the desire to continue Francis’ pastoral focus on people who are marginalized and against war. But conservatives may be more focused on forging unity and refocusing the church back on core doctrines emphasized by St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, rather than continuing Francis’ social justice focus and outreach to women and gays.

Cardinal Baldassare Reina, in a homily in St. Peter’s Basilica on the third day of official mourning for Francis’ death, urged fellow cardinals to continue the Argentine pope’s reforms and avoid “power alliances” and “retaliation” as they choose his successor.

British Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the 79-year-old archbishop of Westminster, was adamant that the church must strive for unity, and he downplayed divisions.

“The role of the pope is to essentially hold us together and that’s the grace we’ve been given from God,” Nichols said.

Venezuelan Cardinal Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo expressed confidence that once the conclave begins, a decision would be quick, “between two and three days.”

Cardinal electors

The College of Cardinals that will elect a new pope includes members from far-flung corners of the globe whom Francis named over his 12-year papacy to bring in new points of view — often at the expense of traditional centers of Catholicism.

Many have spent little or no time in Rome getting to know colleagues, injecting some uncertainty into a process that requires two-thirds of the voting-age cardinals to coalesce behind a single candidate.

Nichols acknowledged that the 135 cardinal electors — 108 of whom were appointed by Francis — don’t know each other very well. The last 20 were appointed in early December.

“We’ve got all week,” Nichols said as he arrived.

Only cardinals under 80 are eligible to vote, and it is not clear how many of the 135 will participate. A Spanish cardinal has said he won’t come to Rome for health reasons.

Controversy

A big uncertainty is whether Cardinal Angelo Becciu, once one of the most powerful cardinals in the Vatican, will be allowed in the Sistine Chapel. Francis in 2020 forced Becciu to resign as head of the Vatican’s saint-making office and renounce his rights as a cardinal because of allegations of embezzlement and financial fraud. Becciu denied any wrongdoing but was put on trial in the Vatican criminal court and convicted of finance-related charges in December, 2023.

He is appealing the conviction and has participated in the pre-conclave meetings, but there is a lingering question about whether he is entitled to vote. The Vatican’s official statistics list him as a “non-elector.” When he was ousted in 2020, Becciu told a hastily arranged press conference that he wouldn’t be voting in any future conclave, but recently he has insisted he is entitled to vote, and canon lawyers have been poring over the Vatican document regulating the conclave to determine if he’s right.

The case was discussed Monday by cardinals but there was “no resolution,” the Vatican said.

Papal candidates

While Francis stacked the ranks with his cardinals, it is not necessarily the case that all of them will want to see the church continue in his image.

On Monday, any glimpse of a red cap appearing along St. Peter’s Square’s stately colonnade set journalists running with cameras and voice recorders aloft to capture the mood inside.

Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, considered a contender to be the next pope, navigated the scrum of journalists with humor, joking that he was “holding his breath” as the microphones and cameras surrounded him all the way to the Vatican gate.

African voices

Nigerian Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, the emeritus archbishop of Abuja, was asked if the African cardinals were coalescing around a particular candidate.

African bishops had made a remarkably united stand last year against Francis’ outreach to LGBTQ+ people, refusing to implement his declaration allowing priests to offer blessings to same-sex couples. Given such a stand, there is some speculation that the 18 African cardinal electors could help block a progressive candidate from emerging.

“We have not come here for a political rally. We have come to get a pope out,” said Onaiyekan, who at 81 is too old to vote but can have a role in influencing how younger electors might.

Asian and Latin American voices

Indian Cardinal Anthony Poola, the 61-year-old archbishop of Hyderabad, said he had experienced a sense of unity among his fellow cardinals but allowed that “anything could happen.” As a relatively young cardinal, Poola is one of four Indian electors who will participate in the conclave, three of whom, including Poola, were named by Francis.

“Anyone who is coming up must be the successor of St. Peter, and we all hope that he will be a good pope,” he said.

Rossi, the Argentine cardinal, said he hoped that Francis’ message of “mercy, closeness, charity, tenderness and faith,” would accompany them in finding a successor.

But he acknowledged the job was daunting. Asked how he felt about participating in his first conclave, he responded with a laugh: “Afraid.”

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

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