VATICAN CITY -- Looking for a way to provide both spiritual and physical care on Easter, a group of Italian doctors received their bishop's permission to distribute Communion to those infected by the coronavirus.

ROME -- While many churches in Italy remain open, visiting a church to pray is not a valid excuse for leaving one's home during Italy's COVID-19 lockdown, said a note from the Ministry for Internal Affairs.

ROME -- The Italian ministry for culture has revoked a license it granted to the Dignitatis Humanae Institute to manage a state-owned historic monument south of Rome, citing irregularities in the bidding process and a breach of contract.

VATICAN CITY -- Italian bishops have recognized their "moral obligation" to report allegations of clerical sexual abuse to the police, said the head of the Italian bishops' child protection committee.

VATICAN CITY - Members of Italy's Gypsy communities must look to God to hold on to the hope of a future where they are no longer discriminated against or segregated, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has made it more than obvious that he does not like people kissing his ring.

VATICAN – As the capital of Italy and center of Catholicism, the city of Rome must work with the Catholic Church to preserve and defend its rich historical and spiritual traditions, Pope Francis said.

VATICAN – Pope Francis recognized the martyrdom of an Italian missionary killed in Myanmar and seven Romanian Catholic bishops – one of whom was secretly named a cardinal by St. Paul VI – persecuted during the communist era.

VATICAN – The historic signing of the Lateran Pacts between the Holy See and Italy 90 years ago is an important example of cooperation and peace that is needed in today's world, a Vatican official said.

VATICAN – Pope Francis made new appointments to the Dicastery for Communication, naming Andrea Tornielli, an Italian journalist, as its "editorial director" and Andrea Monda, an Italian journalist and religion teacher, as editor-in-chief of the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano.

VATICAN – The Vatican press office confirmed news reports that human bones had been found during reconstruction work in a building connected to the Vatican Embassy to Italy.

Pesto tastes like summertime to me.

ROME – Spain has announced it will let a ship holding 629 migrants and refugees, who were rescued from the Mediterranean, dock on its shores, after Italy and Malta refused to accept the vessel.

VATICAN – Pope Francis told Italian schoolchildren that he grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina, "the most beautiful city in the world," and that besides playing soccer, he loved to fly kites as a child.

VATICAN – The church needs courageous men and women like Italian Bishop Antonio Bello of Molfetta, who imitated Jesus' closeness to the poor and the downtrodden, Pope Francis said.