News & Commentary
Vatican workers sanitize St. Peter's Basilica
OSV News
May 15, 2020
In preparation for the May 18 resumption of public liturgies in Italy and a morning Mass with Pope Francis at the tomb of St. John Paul II, Vatican workers cleaned and sanitized the inside of St. Peter's Basilica May 15.
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Debt relief sought so poor nations can respond to COVID-19
OSV News
May 15, 2020
Advocates for debt relief for the world's poorest countries are calling on international policymakers to cancel debt payments and expand debt relief for developing nations to bolster health care and protect vulnerable people and workers during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Bishops call for end to surrogacy as pandemic strands newborns
OSV News
May 15, 2020
Border closures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have highlighted another "pathology" in modern Ukraine: the practice of commercial surrogacy, said the country's Catholic bishops.
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Pope makes mini-pilgrimage to pray for end of pandemic
OSV News
May 15, 2020
With Italy on lockdown and Rome streets almost deserted, Pope Francis left the Vatican March 15 in a mini-pilgrimage to an icon and to a crucifix associated with miraculous interventions to save the city and its people.
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Pope entrusts world threatened by COVID-19 to Mary
OSV News
May 15, 2020
Pope Francis entrusted to Jesus’ mother the suffering and anguish of millions of people affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
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Italian doctors: Staff overwhelmed during pandemic
OSV News
May 15, 2020
Doctors working in the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy have launched an appeal in a major medical journal warning the outbreak in their province is out of control.
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Pope Benedict: St. John Paul's life marked by mercy, not moral rigidity
The continuity between St. John Paul II and Pope Francis is rooted in the message of God’s divine mercy for all men and women, retired Pope Benedict XVI said in a letter commemorating his predecessor’s birth.