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Catholic News Agency
St. Peter’s Basilica considers temperature checks when public Masses resume

CNA Staff, May 14, 2020 / 03:30 pm MT (CNA).- Papal basilicas are considering checking visitors’ temperatures as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus when public Masses resume, the Holy See press office said Thursday. Representatives of the four major Roman basilicas — St. Peter’s, St. Mary Major, St. …
Coloradans gather final round of signatures for late-term abortion ban

by Jonah McKeown Denver, Colo., May 15, 2020 / 11:01 am MT (CNA).- A coalition of volunteers in Colorado hopes to gather enough signatures in the next two weeks on a petition to put a late-term abortion ban on the November ballot – an effort complicated by restrictions related to …
St. Peter’s Basilica is sanitized ahead of reopening to public

by Hannah Brockhaus Vatican City, May 15, 2020 / 10:15 am MT (CNA).- Ahead of its eventual reopening to the public, St. Peter’s Basilica is being cleaned and sanitized at the direction of the Vatican’s health and hygiene department. Public Masses will resume throughout Italy from May 18 under strict …
Benedict XVI hails John Paul II as ‘liberating restorer’ of Church

CNA Staff, May 15, 2020 / 03:00 am MT (CNA).- John Paul II was a “liberating restorer of the Church” in the turbulent years after the Second Vatican Council, Benedict XVI has said in a letter marking the 100th anniversary of the saint’s birth. In a message to Cardinal Stanisław …
Former judge: coronavirus restrictions have a place, but religion is ‘essential’

by Kevin J. Jones Denver Newsroom, May 15, 2020 / 11:02 am MT (CNA).- Public health orders to limit the spread of the new coronavirus raise important questions about the U.S. Constitution and religious freedom, and Stanford Law School professor Michael J. McConnell has provided some guidance on these topics. …
DC parish fills pews with food for parishioners in need

by Kate Scanlon Washington D.C., May 13, 2020 / 12:00 pm MT (CNA).- Public masses remain suspended in the Archdiocese of Washington amid the coronavirus pandemic, but the pews at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart are not empty. Priests, parishioners, and staff at Sacred Heart Parish recently assembled 500 …
‘Is Jesus’ body in space?’ And other Ascension questions you didn’t know you had

by Mary Farrow Denver Newsroom, May 14, 2020 / 02:00 am MT (CNA).- When Jesus rose from the dead three days after the crucifixion, he appeared for 40 days thereafter to his apostles and many of his other followers in his physical, glorified body. And that glorified body, while it …
Pope Francis calls people of all religions to pray for end of pandemic

by Courtney Mares Vatican City, May 14, 2020 / 05:30 am MT (CNA).- Pope Francis urged people of every religion to fast and pray Thursday for an end to the coronavirus pandemic and “other pandemics” of hunger and war. “Today all of us, brothers and sisters of all religious traditions, …
At empty shrine, Fatima cardinal says Church is spiritually united with Mary

by Courtney Mares Rome Newsroom, May 13, 2020 / 10:00 am MT (CNA).- For the first time in its history, the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima celebrated the May 13 anniversary of the 1917 Marian apparitions without the presence of the public. “Yes, the sanctuary is empty, but not …
Archbishop Gregory denounces ‘murderous attack’ on Ahmaud Arbery

CNA Staff, May 13, 2020 / 10:30 am MT (CNA).- Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C., has spoken out against the “murderous attack” which caused the death of Ahmaud Arbery in Georgia. The archbishop said the killing was a reminder that racism is a virus as deadly as COVID-19. “Currently, …