Pope Francis says “We are all in the same boat”, during Urbi et Orbi ceremony
Vatican CityRNS As the world grapples with the spread of the coronavirus, Pope Francis delivered a homily of hope on Friday, comparing the pandemic to a storm that can be overcome only by coming together in faith. “We have realised that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, but at […]
Australia to deploy armed forces in coronavirus compliance battle
Sydney, AustraliaReuters Australia is introducing enforced quarantine by midnight on Saturday for citizens returning home from overseas and will deploy the armed forces to ensure people already subjected to self-isolation measures are complying. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Friday that returning Australians accounted for around two thirds of the country’s more than 3,000 coronavirus […]
SNAPSHOT: STREET SCENE IN CAIRO, EGYPT
See SIMON MATZINGER’s image…
Cash to cooking gas: India announces measures for poor women hit by lockdown
New Delhi, IndiaThomson Reuters Foundation From cash transfers to cooking gas, India’s government on Thursday announced measures to help hundreds of millions of vulnerable women survive a coronavirus lockdown as part of a plan worth nearly $US23 billion. India’s government has put in place a strict lockdown to try to stem the spread of the […]
Catholic convert’s book on the Annunciation hopes to help parents inspire faith in Gen Z
Vatican CityRNS In her new book about the Annunciation, Catholic convert and poet Sally Read addresses young people’s relationship with social media and its impact on faith, drawing from her personal experience as a mother. The British author of Annunciation: A Call to Faith in a Broken World converted to Catholicism in 2010 after being an […]
Astronaut tips to survive lockdown: talk, teamwork, treats
Berlin, GermanyReuters Stick to a daily routine, stay connected with family and treat yourself occasionally – those are some of the tips German astronauts gave for surviving lockdown during the coronavirus crisis, which they said was much like their time in space. Thomas Reiter, 61, who was the first German astronaut to perform a spacewalk, […]
Snowstorm didn’t stop this Alaska church from hosting drive-in worship service
RNS Rev Nick Bruckner stood atop a mound of snow as he preached about taking time to reflect during the Lenten season and urged the faithful to not “drift through life”. The strong winds made it difficult for him to flip the pages of his Bible. He used the remains of a plastic cup to […]
CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE: AS DEATH TOLL MOUNTS, FAITH LEADERS THE WORLD OVER GRAPPLE WITH FUNERALS
JACK JENKINS and CLAIRE GIANGRAVÉ, of Religion News Service, reports…
Holy Land churches, mosques, synagogues close for coronavirus
Jerusalem, IsraelRNS In the days before the novel coronavirus, the thought that every church, synagogue and mosque in the Holy Land would be ordered shut was simply unimaginable. Yet that is today’s reality. Ultra-Orthodox Jews pray at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on 15th March, 2020. Israel imposed sweeping travel and quarantine measures more than […]
ESSAY: INDIA’S EXECUTIONS WON’T END A PANDEMIC OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
SATPAL SINGH, a professor at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo in the US, says it’s time to face the reality that violence against women “is not an aberration but a commonplace occurrence in world society”…