POSTCARDS: UNDER THE VATICAN DOME, SHOPS RISK CLOSURE DUE TO CORONAVIRUS FEARS
As coronavirus leads to a month-long lockdown in northern Italy, CLAIRE GIANGRAVÉ, writing for Religion News Service, reports on its impact in Vatican City…
No hugs, handshakes as US churches take new precautions against coronavirus
Atlanta, USReuters With a wide smile and arms outstretched, but quickly dropped into double elbow bumps, James Harper warmly greets fellow congregants at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church on Sunday in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward neighbourhood. “We’re all tight here,” said Harper, 51, a salesman. “Normally it’s nothing but deep hugs. But it’s a […]
Italy locks down millions as its coronavirus deaths jump
Milan, ItalyReuters Italy ordered a virtual lockdown across much of its wealthy north, including the financial capital Milan, in a drastic new attempt to try to contain a outbreak of coronavirus that saw the number of deaths leap again sharply on Sunday. The unprecedented restrictions, which aim to limit gatherings and curb movement, will impact […]
Cancelled bookings, empty rooms: coronavirus takes toll on tourism
Milan, Italy/London, UK/Paris, FranceReuters Venice hotelier Judith Boulbain has to go back almost two decades to the 9/11 attacks to recall a time when business was this bad. Only a month before Easter, one of the busiest holidays in the European calendar, the owner of the Hotel San Samuele in the heart of Venice has […]
Sudan to consider Christian holidays in setting student exam schedules, official says
Juba, South SudanMorning Star News Christian leaders in Sudan were sceptical about a government statement last week that it will consider removing Sundays as a student exam day. Disregarding Sunday as a worship day for Christians, Sudan even before the 30-year Islamist regime of former President Omar al-Bashir had scheduled exams for both primary and secondary […]
Africa’s first elected female president to train ‘wave’ of women leaders
Dakar, SenegalThomson Reuters Foundation Liberia’s trail-blazing former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will launch a plan on Sunday to help other African women reach the top in a continent dominated by male heads of state. Johnson Sirleaf, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, became Africa’s first elected female head of state in 2006 and stepped down in […]
THE INTERVIEW: MARTIN DOBLMEIER, MAKER OF ‘REVOLUTION OF THE HEART: THE DOROTHY DAY STORY’
YONAT SHIMRON, of Religion News Service, speaks with film-maker Martin Doblmeier about his new documentary on Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker movement…