The Missionaries of the Gospel of Life, a new, explicitly political, order of Catholic priests which will dedicate itself exclusively to fighting abortion and euthanasia, has been formed this week with the blessing of the Vatican. The male-only order will be based in an empty Catholic high school on the property of the Diocese of Amarillo in Texas and will train priests and seminarians, as well as lay activists, to lead demonstrations outside abortion clinics, conduct voter-registration drives, lobby politicians for abortion restrictions and make use of the media to spread a pro-life message. Order founder Father Frank A. Pavone, who also directs the antiabortion group, Priests for Life, says that the Missionaries of the Gospel of Life differs from other pro-life Catholic religious societies because it is the first church-established apostolic society for priests to concentrate solely on these issues.