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Vatican City, Mar 27, 2020 / 12:19 pm (CNA).- On Friday, before an empty and rain-covered St. Peter’s Square, Pope Francis held Eucharistic adoration and gave an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi blessing, praying for the world during the coronavirus pandemic which has killed more than 25,000 people. The holy hour March 27 included a reading from the Gospel and a meditation by Pope Francis, who spoke about faith and trust in God during a time when people fear for their lives, as did the disciples when their boat was caught in a violent storm. “We have an anchor: by his cross we have been saved. We have a rudder: by his cross we have been redeemed. We have a hope: by his cross we have been healed and embraced so that nothing and no one can separate us from his redeeming love,” Francis said. Embrac...

The Texas Attorney General’s office just ordered all clinics that provide abortion to immediately stop providing the procedure in order to comply with the state’s temporary suspension of surgeries that are not deemed “medically necessary,” according to a statement from the office shared with CBS News. Texas is the latest state to halt abortion services amid the COVID-19 outbreak. According to the Attorney General’s office, “any type of abortion that is not medically necessary to preserve the life or health of the mother” must be suspended. Those in violation will face “penalties of up to $1,000 or 180 days of jail time.” On Sunday evening, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order “to expand hospital bed capacity as the...

Washington D.C., Mar 23, 2020 / 11:33 am (CNA).- The Archbishop of New Orleans has tested positive for coronavirus. He is the first U.S. bishop known to have tested positive for the virus, which is now a global pandemic. “Recently, I had very mild symptoms, which included fever only. Out of an abundance of caution, I took the Coronavirus test which came back positive,” Archbishop Gregory Aymond announced March 23. “I have notified those with whom I have been in close proximity. Needless to say, I have self-quarantined in order to be responsible and not affect others. I will use this quiet time for additional prayer and sacrifice for all those seriously affected by the virus,” the archbishop wrote. “I pray to get well soon and continue ministry. In the meantime, I will be present through Fa...

Pope Francis invites the faithful into Eucharistic Adoration after Mass, March 17, 2020. (Daniel Ibañez/EWTN.) The Vatican’s Apostolic Penitentiary has granted a plenary indulgence for people who pray for an end to the pandemic, healing for the sick, and the eternal repose of the dead. Courtney Mares/CNA. VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has asked Christians around the world to unite in praying the Our Father prayer at noon on March 25 in response to the coronavirus pandemic. “In these days of trial, while humanity trembles at the threat of the pandemic, I would like to propose to all Christians to unite their voices to heaven,” Pope Francis said March 22. “I invite … the leaders of all Christian communities, together with all Christians of various confessions, to invoke the Mos...

New York City, N.Y., Mar 21, 2020 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- As the coronavirus pandemic spreads across the United States, the ministry of hospital chaplains is essential for patients and health care professionals. One New York priest told CNA on Thursday that hospitals are the front line for saving souls, as well as lives. “The hospital situation in the last five to ten years is one of the best places that we are doing evangelization,” Fr. John Anderson of ArchCare, a health care ministry of the Archdiocese of New York, told CNA March 19.  “A lot of folks we see haven’t seen a priest, or been in a church in five, ten, 15, maybe even longer, years,” he said. “So when we train priests for hospital ministry, we really talk a lot about welcoming people back, being hospitable. And we certainly wa...

Here’s the grimmest version of life a year from now: More than two million Americans have died from the new coronavirus, almost all mourned without funerals. Countless others have died because hospitals are too overwhelmed to deal adequately with heart attacks, asthma and diabetic crises. The economy has cratered into a depression, for fiscal and monetary policy are ineffective when people fear going out, businesses are closed and tens of millions of people are unemployed. A vaccine still seems far off, immunity among those who have recovered proves fleeting and the coronavirus has joined the seasonal flu as a recurring peril. Yet here’s an alternative scenario for March 2021: Life largely returned to normal by the late summer of 2020, and the economy has rebounded strongly. The United Sta...

Latest updates from the Eternal City in lockdown since March 10. UPDATES (Rome time) March 20, 4.10pm In a second of two decrees, the Apostolic Penitentiary today ruled that in view of the difficulty in priests hearing confessions during the coronavirus pandemic, bishops can offer general absolution in cases of “grave necessity”.  The decree, signed by Major Penitentiary Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, notes that general absolution is usually only permitted in accordance with canon 961 – when there is an “imminent danger of death, since there is not enough time to hear the confessions of individual penitents,” or there is a “grave necessity.”  The decree then stresses in italics:  “This Apostolic Penitentiary believes that, especially in the places most affected by the pandemic con...

Washington D.C., Mar 19, 2020 / 02:30 pm (CNA).- The lieutenant governor of Washington announced on Thursday that he will not seek re-election and instead will enter the Society of Jesus this autumn.  Lt. Gov. Cyrus Habib (D), 38, will end his eight-year career in public office after what he described as “two years of careful and prayerful discernment” led him to apply to join the Jesuits. Habib, who was elected lieutenant governor in 2016, is the highest-ranking Iranian-American elected official in the United States.  As his discernment process was “almost entirely private,” Habib said that he expected many of his constituents and supporters would find his decision to be a “major surprise,” particularly he was considered by many to have a bright political future. “Many will be w...

This morning’s General Audience was held at 9:30 am from the Library of the Apostolic Vatican Palace. Continuing with the series of catecheses on the Beatitudes, in his address in Italian the Pope focused his meditation on the seventh: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). After summarizing his catechesis in several languages, the Holy Father expressed special greetings to the faithful. Then he made an appeal for the celebration of the next 24 Hours for the Lord (March 20-21, 2020). The Audience ended with the Apostolic Blessing. * * * The Holy Father’s Catechesis  Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning! Today we pause on the <seventh> Beatitude, which says: “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7). There is a partic...

Lourdes, France, Mar 17, 2020 / 05:30 am (CNA).- The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes has closed for the first time in over a century following new restrictions in France to slow the spread of the coronavirus. “For the first time in its history, the sanctuary will close its doors for a while. Pray with us the novena to the Immaculate,” Mgr. Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, rector of the Lourdes sanctuary announced March 17. No public Masses will be offered in the sanctuary due to national measures announced by French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron on the evening of March 16. France is the third European country to enact a mandatory national quarantine in response to the growing number of cases of COVID-19. Italy and Spain have both imposed nationwide lockdowns, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel a...

Rome, Italy, Mar 16, 2020 / 03:20 pm (CNA).- At least ten priests have died in Italy after contracting COVID-19. More than half of them were from the Diocese of Bergamo, a town outside of Milan in Lombardy. The bishop of Bergamo, the Italian diocese hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak, said Monday that the 20 priests in his diocese who have been hospitalized after contracting coronavirus have shown considerable improvement and six others have died. “The number of priests who have died this week and that of those who are still in a particularly serious situation is very high,” Bishop Francesco Beschi of Bergamo said in an Italian radio interview March 16. “We are living this pain by sharing it with that of our communities together with the number of infected people, the sick and a high ...