According to an internal Vatican analysis recently presented to Pope Francis for a meeting with his department heads, declines in revenue due to the coronavirus pandemic will cause the Vatican’s annual deficit to balloon somewhere between 30 and 175 percent, depending on which of three scenarios, ranging from best to worst case, is realized.
On May 12, the Vatican announced that with public Masses set to resume in Italy this weekend as coronavirus restrictions ease, Pope Francis’s daily Masses at the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta guesthouse will no longer be livestreamed.
As if Italy hasn’t been through enough since a sweeping national lockdown was imposed March 8, and with more than 30,000 Italians dead from the coronavirus, Romans awoke around 5:00 a.m. May 11 to an earthquake. A loud boom sent people into the streets in their pajamas under an early morning rain, temporarily forgetting their masks and gloves.
As the number of global COVID-19 coronavirus infections continues to rise, notably among healthcare workers, Pope Francis in his daily Mass on May 12 offered special prayers for nurses on International Nurses Day.
Several women theologians who teach in Catholic seminaries have applauded Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, who argued in a recent interview that to foster a healthy relationship between the sexes, more women should be involved in priestly formation.
While his parents and siblings sang in Spanish the words of St. Paul — “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” — the casket containing Father Jorge Ortiz-Garay was lowered into the ground in Mexico City.
Exactly 70 days after public Mass was last celebrated in Italy, the Holy Father’s own backyard, the Italian bishops announced May 7 a deal with the government to resume the liturgy on Monday, May 18, which means the first Sunday Mass to be reopened will be May 24, which in Italy is the Feast of the Ascension.
Praying for families around the world who have been restricted to their homes because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pope Francis included mention of victims of domestic violence.
In his book, “Disruptive Power: Catholic Women, Miracles, and Politics in Modern Germany, 1918-1965,” Marist College professor Michael O’Sullivan explores the revival of Catholic faith in Germany from 1920-1960, fueled in large part by Marian devotion.
Advocates for Christians in the Middle East are calling for an overhaul of the way humanitarian aid is distributed by western governments and international agencies to those on the frontlines of persecution.
