Religion

The Jesuit magazine America reports: In a remarkable Easter Sunday letter to members of social movements around the world, Pope Francis, noting that the widespread suffering caused by the global coronavirus pandemic does not fall evenly, suggested that the crisis warranted the establishment of a universal basic income. He described it also as an opportunity for affluent societies to “downshift” …

The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports: Seventy-year-old New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond climbed into the open-air cockpit of a World War II-era biplane on Good Friday morning and roared off on a 25-minute mission. As a pilot steered a course from the Lakefront Airport to Kenner to Gretna, to the French Quarter and back, Aymond blessed the population, which has been …

The Christian Post reports: Seminaries have launched a hotline in which clergy can give prayers and last rites to people in the hospital over the phone, namely for coronavirus patients for whom access might be limited because of social distancing. Virginia Theological Seminary and General Theological Seminary launched “Dial-A-Priest”  this week through their joint project, the TryTank Experimental Lab. The …

CNN reports: Pope Francis has said the coronavirus pandemic is one of “nature’s responses” to humans ignoring the current ecological crisis. In an email interview published Wednesday in The Tablet and Commonwealth magazines, the pontiff said the outbreak offered an opportunity to slow down the rate of production and consumption and to learn to understand and contemplate the natural world. …

The Christian Post reports: On Tuesday, the Southern Baptist polling research firm released results from a phone survey, conducted between Jan. 24 and Feb. 11, of 1,000 senior pastors or ministers who were randomly called from a list of evangelical churches. “While Christians prepare to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, many pastors believe they see signs His return may be close,” LifeWay …

Oakland’s Fox affiliate reports: Members of a central California church found themselves locked out of the bulding after the pastor originally kept his doors open, saying the shelter-in-place orders violated his freedom to assemble. But within the past week, the landlord of the Cross Culture Christian Center in Lodi, Calif. changed the locks, so congregants couldn’t enter the building for …

Reuters reports: Australia’s highest court acquitted former Vatican treasurer George Pell on Tuesday of sexually assaulting two teenaged choirboys in the 1990s, freeing the 78-year-old cardinal after 404 days in jail. The High Court ordered Pell’s convictions be quashed and verdicts of acquittal be entered in their place, ending the most high profile case of alleged historical sex abuse to …

From a GoFundMe plea posted on Friday: With deep sadness and Broken Hearts we share with you that Karen Kolb Sehlke, a loving wife, mother, daughter, sister, and friend to all that knew her, went to be with our Lord when she passed away unexpectedly Thursday April 2,2020. Karen became very sick and was admitted to the hospital near her …

Reuters reports: Pope Francis marked a surreal Palm Sunday in an empty St. Peter’s Basilica, urging people living through the coronavirus pandemic not to be so concerned with what they lack but how they can ease the suffering of others.n The service, kicking off Holy Week events leading to Easter, usually attracts tens of thousands of people to a St. …

Reuters reports: The gloom over Italy darkened Friday as the country reported nearly 1,000 new deaths, its worst single-day toll in an accelerating coronavirus pandemic that has brought the world to a standstill. Grim-faced Italian officials in Rome announced 969 new deaths at a daily briefing while, not far away and at the same time, Pope Francis held a stirring …

Suburban Chicago’s Daily Herald reports: An estimated 43 people, more than half the people who attended a service March 15 at The Life Church of Glenview, are sick and at least 10 have tested positive for COVID-19, Pastor Anthony LoCascio [photo] confirmed Thursday evening. “A lot of people are sick,” said LoCascio, who says 11 days after starting to feel …

Reuters reports: Pope Francis’ Holy Week and Easter services, which normally draw tens of thousands of people, will be held without the public attending because of the coronavirus outbreak, a step believed to be unprecedented in modern times. It was not clear how the massive events will be scaled down but sources said officials were studying ways to hold them …

Yahoo News reports: St. Peter’s Square and St. Peter’s Basilica have been closed to tourists and guided groups because of coronavirus but individual members of the faithful can enter the basilica to pray, the Vatican said on Tuesday.  A statement said the Vatican would also be closing its post office in the square, which draws many tourists, as well as …

CTV News reports: Justice Minister David Lametti has added another bill to the government’s agenda, tabling new amendments to the Criminal Code, to impose a ban on conversion therapy. The legislation — a campaign promise and evolution on the government’s position last parliament — is proposing to prohibit religious counselling seeking to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, …

The New York Post reports: Pope Francis livestreamed his prayers to giant screens in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday — breaking centuries of tradition because of Italy’s deadly spread of the novel coronavirus. The 83-year-old pope — who tested negative for COVID-19 after suffering from a cold — appeared for a few seconds at a Vatican palazzo window to wave …

The Daily Beast reports: The Vatican has closed its health care facilities after treating a patient who tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a memo sent to the Vatican press corps Friday morning. The Vatican emergency room remains open. The Vatican clinic serves around 1,000 people who live inside Vatican City, including Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, countless …

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis on Friday accepted the resignation of a French cardinal who was convicted and then acquitted of covering up for a pedophile priest in a case that fueled a reckoning over clergy sexual abuse in France. Lyon Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, 69, had offered to resign when the Lyon court in March 2019 first convicted him …

The Washington Post reports: Gov. Ralph Northam has signed a bill banning conversion therapy for minors, the first LGBT rights measure to reach the Democrat’s desk this year. Virginia will become the 20th state — and the first in the South — to outlaw the therapy, a widely discredited practice that purports to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender …

The Buffalo News reports: The Buffalo Diocese, awash with lawsuits alleging child sex abuse by priests, nuns and others, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Friday, marking another chapter in a scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church in Western New York since early 2018. The Buffalo Diocese already is named as a defendant in 260 cases, more than …

Reuters reports: An So-young had a gut feeling that the 31st person in South Korea to test positive for the coronavirus might be a member of the controversial religious sect she quit four years ago. What caught An’s attention was how health authorities were struggling to track the woman’s movements before she was tested. “That’s their culture, they have to …