VATICAN CITY -- In response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis said he will give an extraordinary blessing "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world) at 6 p.m. Rome time March 27.

Every crisis can teach us something about ourselves. Each is a chance to revise the way we live and the way we think about what is important and which people in society deserve our respect and admiration.

I had a coronavirus earlier this year.

Not THAT coronavirus. It was just a common cold, which is one of the many types of coronaviruses out there.

The global pandemic that threatens lives is also bad news for Church finances — with Toronto’s ShareLife and the national Share Lent campaigns thrown into uncertainty by school closures and Mass cancellations.

VATICAN CITY -- Despite the COVID-19 pandemic that is causing public Mass cancellations worldwide, the liturgies of Holy Week and Easter can not be postponed or suspended, said the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.

The annual Good Friday procession through downtown Toronto streets is another victim of the COVID-19 pandemic.

SYDNEY -- Catholic dioceses in Australia began canceling Masses as the government limited indoor gatherings to fewer than 100 people in mid-March in an effort to contain COVID-19.

VATICAN CITY -- In places particularly hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic and with severe limits on people leaving their homes, conditions may exist to grant general absolution without people personally confessing their sins first, the Vatican said.

Society’s most vulnerable are often lost in the shuffle at the best of times, but with the world being blindsided by COVID-19 those operating programs for the homeless and marginalized are working to ensure these people are not forgotten.

Church doors may be closed and the opportunity for a communal celebration of the Eucharist have ceased for the time being, but the Mass will go on, said Cardinal Thomas Collins.

School closures, business disruptions, stock market panic, grocery hoarding and widespread cancellations of Sunday Masses. Few if any of us have seen anything like this.

VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis asked people to pray for all victims of COVID-19, including the health care workers who sacrificed their lives caring for others.

The Church in Quebec, many parts of Ontario and even in Rome appeared late last week to say “No Más” in the face of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

A health crisis is not how Deacon Mike Walsh envisioned attracting more eyeballs to the Daily TV Mass, but that’s what is happening to a ministry that serves people who are unable to attend Mass at a church.

OTTAWA -- As communities rally to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, the president of the Catholic Civil Rights League said any concerns that government-mandated church closures infringe on religious freedom rights are unwarranted.