Canada's largest diocese has implemented sweeping new cancellations and suspensions after a state of emergency was declared in Ontario due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Faith communities across Canada are answering a call to make sacrifices to their faith practices in the national battle to control the spread of the COVID-19.

ROME -- About half of the U.S. seminarians and priests living at the Pontifical North American College and the Casa Santa Maria in Rome have left the locked-down city, the rector said.

ROME -- 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.

VATICAN CITY -- Standing in the window of the library of the Apostolic Palace overlooking an empty St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis blessed the city of Rome still under lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

ROME -- A number of priests and religious women have been among the nearly 2,000 people who have died in Italy because of illness connected with COVID-19.

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican office that distributes free tickets to papal events has posted a notice on its website that "the liturgical celebrations of Holy Week will take place without the physical presence of the faithful."

TORONTO -- The Archdiocese of Toronto, Canada’s largest diocese, has cancelled all weekend Masses after Ontario’s chief medical officer urged all public gatherings be limited to a maximum of 250 people.

MONTREAL -- The bishops of Quebec have taken the unprecedented step of suspending all celebrations and events in churches across the province.

A natural reaction to the new coronavirus is to ask how can I protect myself, but a Christian response is to ask how can I protect my neighbour.

As quickly as the coronavirus is spreading, dioceses in Canada have been working to implement measures to protect their parishioners.

Uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus is starting to take a toll on Canadian tour operators who have booked pilgrimages, particularly to Italy where the whole nation went into a lockdown to combat the spread of COVID-19.

AMMAN, Jordan -- A group of priests in Lebanon have quarantined themselves while a pair of their elders are fighting coronavirus. A Catholic hospital in another part of the tiny Mediterranean country has also seen a spread of the COVID-19 as fear of the disease grips the cash-strapped nation.

VATICAN CITY -- Amid a nationwide lockdown due to the coronavirus epidemic, Pope Francis soldiered on with his weekly general audience and called on people to not forget those who suffer from war and violence.

VATICAN CITY — In co-operation with Italian emergency measures, the Vatican has closed St. Peter's Square and Basilica to tourists starting March 10 through April 3.