At Mass in housing projects and tourist hotspots, Romans pray next pope focuses on poverty and peace

ROME (AP) — At Masses in Rome’s housing projects and in the heart of its tourist district, the faithful prayed Sunday for the upcoming conclave that will elect Pope Francis ’ successor.

Whether in the squat 1980s concrete church of San Paolo della Croce, next to a notorious public housing project, or facing millennium-old golden mosaics in Santa Maria in Trastevere, Catholics shared two main hopes for the church’s future.

Young and old, Romans and migrants alike said they would like the next pontiff to make faith accessible to those on the margins and help bring peace to a world they see as teeming with dangers.

Michele Cufaro said he prays the next pope will “focus on the poor, poverty, eliminate hatred, meanness and wars, and re-educate the youth … who are getting totally lost.”

The glass and metalworker first lived in the Corviale projects across the street – a multistory grey public housing block that snakes on a hilltop for more than 3,100 feet (1 km) – when it was built in the early 1980s. He said he knows firsthand the reality of poverty, addiction and exclusion that continues to plague many of its residents.

“I come to entrust myself to a higher power, for the things that I can’t solve myself,” Cufaro said after Mass at San Paolo as tears welled in his eyes remembering Francis’ outreach.

The pontiff, who died on April 21 at age 88, visited the parish in 2018, and comforted a child worried about whether his recently deceased atheist father would be in in heaven.

“We need a pope who comes to visit us, to see the situation,” said Ida Di Giovannantonio, who recalled meeting Francis on that visit.

She said she cried every day when she moved to the projects four decades ago, when she was in her 40s, and only felt safe going to the parish.

“It’s been a place of refuge. The poor need welcoming and love,” said Di Giovannantonio, who’s also volunteered with the church’s food bank. On Sunday, a shopping cart stood by the church’s entrance with a sign encouraging the faithful to leave food donations.

Less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) away but in a different socioeconomic world, at Santa Maria in the riverside neighborhood of Trastevere, Lisa Remondino said she hopes the next pope will continue Francis’ legacy, especially in helping migrants.

“I hope it will be a welcoming pope, and also a pope who has the courage to fight for peace. He was the only voice we had against war, the powerful, and arms,” said the kindergarten teacher, who belongs to the Catholic charity Sant’Egidio that has worked closely with Francis to help migrants and refugees.

One of the cardinals considered top contenders to succeed him, the Rev. Matteo Zuppi of Rome, has served in various capacities both at Sant’Egidio and close-by Santa Maria, whose foundation dates to the 3rd century.

In the outside portico decorated with ancient marble inscriptions and swarming with tourists, Marta Finati said she hoped that the church would continue to respect dogmas, but also be open to the wider society.

The next pope should embrace a moral and political leadership for peace that would provide a “reference point” for non-Catholics too, she added.

Rushing to change into an altar server robes at Sunday afternoon’s Mass at Santa Maria, Mathieu Dansoko, who came to Italy from Mali a decade ago, said coming to church is “like being with your family.”

“The next pope should have the basic courage to bring the neediest from the peripheries to the center,” he said.

Back on the periphery of Corviale, the parish priest, the Rev. Roberto Cassano, said losing Francis was “a big blow” for his congregation because Pope Francis’ visit had “interrupted for a moment the marginalization of these people.”

“We need to get back a bit to God,” he added in the tidy rose garden between the church and the housing block that packs in more than 1,500 families. “So much meanness, so much egoism, so much selfishness is the fruit also of the lack of God’s presence in people’s lives. … Different social problems would still exist, but a little less acute.”

At Sunday morning Mass, several faithful stopped by the last pew to greet an occasional visitor – Cardinal Oswald Gracias of India, who was in Rome for the conclave gatherings, though having turned 80 at the end of last year, he can no longer cast a vote.

Upon election, each cardinal gets a “titular” parish in Rome, and on Sunday many celebrated Mass at theirs. In his homily, Gracias mentioned the different legacies of the last three popes – St. John Paul II’s “world-changing” geopolitical impacts, Benedict XVI’s scholarship, and Francis’ pastoral care. He urged the more than 100 faithful to “pray that the Holy Spirit may give us a pope who meets the needs of the times.”

Elisabetta Bonifazi, who finds in San Paolo her “point of reference,” said in a world rife with “wars and contradictions,” the new pope will need all the divine guidance and prayers.

“He will have to keep carrying this burden forward,” she said. “We’re in an extremely difficult moment.”

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.

Nuns prays during a mass in Santa Maria in Trastevere church, in central Rome, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Father Francesco Tedeschi celebrates a mass in Santa Maria in Trastevere church in central Rome, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Lisa Remondino, chorus director, poses for a photo before the start of a mass in Santa Maria in Trastevere church in central Rome, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

People attends a mass in Santa Maria in Trastevere church in central Rome, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

People enter Santa Maria in Trastevere church in central Rome, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

An areal view of San Paolo Della Croce parish church next to "Corviale" a 958-meter long public housing building in Rome, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Michele Cufaro, a resident reacts, during an interview with the Associated Press in San Paolo Della Croce parish church in Corviale neighbourhood, in Rome, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Father Roberto Cassano attends an interview in San Paolo Della Croce parish church in Corviale neighbourhood, in Rome, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Father Roberto Cassano, right, shares a word with his parishioners Ida Di Giovannantonio, Maddalena Rughetti and Gavio Iachini, after a mass in San Paolo Della Croce parish church in Corviale neighbourhood, in Rome, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Cardinal Oswald Gracias, left, leaves after leading a mass in San Paolo Della Croce parish church in Corviale neighbourhood, in Rome, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Faithful pray during a mass in San Paolo Della Croce parish church in Corviale neighbourhood, in Rome, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

A woman prays during a mass in San Paolo Della Croce parish church in Corviale neighbourhood, in Rome, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Cardinal Oswald Gracias sits before a mass in San Paolo Della Croce parish church in Corviale neighbourhood, in Rome, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Faithful enter for a mass in San Paolo Della Croce parish church in Corviale neighbourhood, in Rome, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

A woman adjusts a photo of the late Pope Francis in cafe in front of San Paolo Della Croce parish church in Corviale neighbourhood, in Rome, Sunday, May 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents carrying out immigration arrests in Minnesota's Twin Cities region already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman rammed the door of one home Sunday and pushed their way inside, part of what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever.

In a dramatic scene similar to those playing out across Minneapolis, agents captured a man in the home just minutes after pepper spraying protesters outside who had confronted the heavily armed federal agents. Along the residential street, protesters honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt the operation.

Video of the clash taken by The Associated Press showed some agents pushing back protesters while a distraught woman later emerged from the house with a document that federal agents presented to arrest the man. Signed by an immigration officer, the document — unlike a warrant signed by a judge — does not authorize forced entry into a private residence. A warrant signed by an immigration officer only authorizes arrest in a public area.

Immigrant advocacy groups have conducted extensive “know-your-rights” campaigns urging people not to open their doors unless agents have a court order signed by a judge.

But within minutes of ramming the door in a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the handcuffed man was led away.

More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Sunday that the administration would send additional federal agents to Minnesota to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement.

The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — is bracing for what is next after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer on Wednesday.

“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”

Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.

People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners Sunday in the neighborhood where Good was killed, watching for any signs of federal agents.

More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .

“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.

The protests have been largely peaceful, but residents remained anxious. On Monday, Minneapolis public schools will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.

Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.

While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said that the investigation into Good's shooting death should not be overseen solely by the federal government.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.

“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened," Smith said on ABC’s "This Week."

The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.

Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”

"That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.

Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn't be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”

The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests in cities across the country over the weekend, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Oakland, California.

Contributing were Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis; Thomas Strong in Washington; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio.

A woman gets into an altercation with a federal immigration officer as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A federal immigration officer deploys pepper spray as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Bystanders are treated after being pepper sprayed as federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Federal agents look on after detaining a person during a patrol in Minneapolis, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Bystanders react after a man was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)

People stand near a memorial at the site where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)

A man looks out of a car window after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Border Patrol agents detain a man, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

People shout toward Border Patrol agents making an arrest, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)

Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds a news conference on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)

Protesters react as they visit a makeshift memorial during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)