07-05-2025
North Texas Catholics eagerly follow conclave, hope for traditional values in new pope
All eyes are on Vatican City as Catholics await the election of a new pope, but some North Texas Catholics are glued to laptops and TVs, looking for that white smoke.
Students and faculty at the University of Dallas, a Catholic university, are closely following the events inside the Sistine Chapel.
Sarah Grambling was in third grade the last time the cardinals selected a new pope.
"We were all sitting in class kind of doing work, and we saw smoke come up live. As third graders, we all went crazy, and our teacher said, 'You have no idea what this means,'" Grambling said.
CBS News
A conclave isn't a common event, so it's a big deal on the campus of the University of Dallas.
"This is a huge celebration of the unity and universality of the Catholic Church. It's the moment that you realize that you're not just part of some little local parish, but you're part of a global church with 1.4 billion members," said Susan Hanssen, a history professor on campus.
Hanssen has been following the conclave closely. She expects the cardinals to be judicious with their choice for the next pope.
"I think the cardinals are going to be a little bit conservative on that and trust the church to one of the older cardinals in their upper seventies," Hanssen said.
Students on campus expressed hope for a return to traditional values from the next pope.
"I think that it would be a good step forward to keep it going with a more conservative pope," said JD Self, a junior at the University of Dallas.
"I want to see older traditions brought back. I loved Pope Francis and all of the things that he brought to us, but I'd like to see things going back to kind of how they used to be in the more traditional sense," said Elena Romero, also a junior on campus.
Hanssen noted that this sentiment is common in the church, not just among students.
"I think that people don't really want a throwback to the 1970s progressive theology, guitar masses. They want something that is a celebration of the fullness of the Christian tradition," Hanssen said.
The possibility of a return to tradition has North Texas Catholics excited about what comes next.
"Excited, nervous, but hopeful. It's comforting to know that all I can do is pray," Self said.
