Clerics, including Father Paolo Capra, hold the first stone of the St. Augustine Catholic Church they plan to build in Pleasant Grove. They met Pope Leo XIV during his visit to Istanbul, Turkey. Photo: Bradley Secker/Getty Images
Pope Leo XIV blessed a foundation stone for St. Augustine Catholic Church in Dallas during a six-day visit to Turkey and Lebanon.
Driving the news: Clerics from the Catholic Diocese of Dallas were in the crowd to see the pope on Friday in Istanbul.
They were captured on video briefly meeting the pope and asking him to bless a brick they plan to put in a new building in Pleasant Grove, per CNN.
Zoom in: St. Augustine is raising $17 million for the first phase of construction, according to the parish's bulletins.
The current building, which hosts mass in Spanish and English, can only fit about 500 people. Father Paolo Capra says they need a space that can hold 900.
What they're saying: St. Augustine serves "a poor neighborhood made of immigrants," Capra told the Vatican News.
"They are very faithful to the church. The church we have now is very small. We want to build a bigger and beautiful church," Capra said before the pope's blessing.
The intrigue: Capra and other priests from Dallas were already on a planned pilgrimage to Istanbul before the pope's visit was announced.
Pope Leo made a sign of the cross over the brick, which is labeled as the "first stone" for the new building.
