The new Mass, Pro Custodia Creationis (For the Care of Creation), was initially ordered by Pope Francis, who made the environment a major theme of his papacy and the subject of his second encyclical, “Laudato Si’,” subtitled “On Care for Our Common Home,” in 2015.

Since white smoke billowed in May from the Sistine Chapel and Pope Leo XIV was elected Pope Francis' successor, the new pope's childhood home — a small, two-story house in Dolton, Illinois, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Chicago — has drawn visitors from across the country with many treating it as a pilgrimage site.

An Illinois village has voted to purchase the childhood home of the first American pope, with a trustee saying the acquisition of the property is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and a gift from God.