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The election of a new pope remains on the minds of many of the 700,000 Catholics who live within the San Antonio archdiocese, which stretches from the Alamo City to the border.
Local experts said it's a process that combines religion and church politics.
Only 135 of 260 cardinals — or those under age 80 — will vote for the next pope in a Vatican City conclave expected to begin on May 6 or soon after.
The cardinals will debate what the top issues facing the church are. And then they will decide who is best suited among the cardinals to be elected pope to address those issues.
It's hoped that assistance for migrants is among those top issues.
Michael J. Boulette, an auxiliary bishop in San Antonio, said the final selection for pope could be a complete surprise to the world, including among those cardinals considered front runners.
"For those who are considered 'papabile,' or pope candidates, there is an old saying in Rome: 'If you go in a pope, you come out a cardinal' and didn't get elected," said Boulette.
The cardinals will vote four times a day by secret ballot at the Sistine Chapel until a candidate receives two-thirds of the vote to be elected.
The ballots of the final round of voting are mixed with a chemical that produce a white smoke that will rise above the chapel to signal the election of a new pope.
San Antonio Catholic Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller also said it is hard to predict the outcome of the pope election process. But, he said, whoever the next pope is, he hopes the pope will champion the causes of migrants and refugees as Pope Francis, himself a migrant, did.
Garcia-Siller said the church will continue to work to protect the dignity of migrants in the face of cuts to federal funding.
"Every migrant and refugee is a child of God and has the dignity that God has given him," he said. "No government, no other person gives dignity. It is given by God."
Trump administration cuts have negatively impacted the migrant assistance efforts of San Antonio Catholic Charities and have resulted in layoffs.
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