This disclosure describes a process for preparing silica-coated calcium carbonate particles, involving the steps of preparing an aqueous carbonate slurry containing calcium carbonate particles, adding at least one silicate composition to the aqueous carbonate slurry to obtain a carbonate-silicate slurry, lowering a pH of the carbonate-silicate slurry by adding at least one acidic compound to obtain a pH-adjusted slurry containing the silica-coated calcium carbonate particles, and isolating the silica-coated calcium carbonate particles—in which at the adding of the acidic compound is controlled such that a final pH of the pH-adjusted slurry ranges from about 7 to about 10, and the silica-coated calcium carbonate particles include a porous coating having an average pore diameter ranging from 2 nm to 50 nm. This disclosure also describes articles and compositions containing the silica-coated calcium carbonate particles, as well as hollow silica spheres formed from the silica-coated calcium carbonate particles.