Catholic News Service

As part of COVID-19 precautions, the Iraqi government has ordered the closure of mosques and churches "until further notice" ahead of Pope Francis' scheduled visit March 5-8.

As Christians pray, fast and give alms during Lent, they also should consider giving a smile and offering a kind word to people feeling alone or frightened because of the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis said.

A Catholic panel analyzing a path forward during moments of strife or of social sin said the only way to move ahead as a society toward healing is to recognize the damage done to a person or communities, to lay the truth out for everyone to see.

U.S. President Joe Biden ordered new sanctions against the military regime in Myanmar to prevent six generals from accessing $1 billion in Myanmar government funds in the United States.

The international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need said it found "very plausible" the claim of a former employee that the late Norbertine Fr. Werenfried van Straaten, founder of the charity, had sexually assaulted her in the 1970s.

Two U.S. bishops' committee chairmen and the head of Catholics Relief Services asked the Biden administration Feb. 10 to grant Temporary Protected Status for 18 months to people from Central America in the United States and to provide aid to their hurricane-ravaged countries.

El Salvador's bishops urged citizens to show faith, hard work and solidarity — not the violence on display during one of the most contentious political campaigns in the country's recent history.

"Authentic healing and authentic reconciliation require a community to commit itself to the long, slow, painful work of justice," says Fr. Bryan Massingale of Fordham University. For Catholic colleges and universities, this means a thorough "curricula review and overhaul," he says. It also means faculty and board members should reflect diversity.

A priest accused of abusing a younger student at a minor seminary located at the Vatican cited jealousy as the main reason behind the allegations against him.

Prayer makes every day better, even the most difficult days, Pope Francis said Feb. 10 during his weekly general audience.

No one needed to tell the Catholic college and university leaders, attending their annual conference virtually this year, that these different times are affecting their day-to-day operations and what they might do going forward.

The Archdiocese of Vancouver has responded to a proposed class-action lawsuit involving allegations of sexual abuse at two Catholic high schools run by the Christian Brothers.

A new attitude and approach toward the elderly are needed in today's world, especially in the places and ways they are cared for when they become more fragile, said the Pontifical Academy for Life.

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic has shifted even worker organizing, typically a person-to-person staple, to the online world, according to Blanca Estela Delgado.

While COVID-19 was the "great equalizer because it really turned the world upside down," poor communities have lagged in gaining much attention from the world, said Anta Gueye-James, Catholic Relief Services' representative for Senegal, Gambia and Guinea-Bissau during the annual Catholic Social Ministry Gathering.

Denying any wrongdoing, Bishop John Brungardt of Dodge City has stepped away from his duties and pledged to cooperate with authorities investigating an allegation of abuse of a minor made against him.

Patrick Kelly, a retired U.S. Navy captain, is the new leader of the Knights of Columbus.

In November, President-elect Joe Biden said that he would be heading in a dramatically different direction than the Trump administration on refugee admissions. On Feb. 4, Biden delivered.

Both the Virginia House of Delegates and the Virginia Senate have now passed bills that would abolish the death penalty in the state. Democratic Governor Ralph Northam has stated his support, making it highly likely that Virginia will become the first Southern state to outlaw capital punishment.

While protocols to slow the COVID-19 pandemic have silenced many concert halls and restricted the use of congregational singing in many churches, Pope Francis prayed that musicians were using this time to listen.