Liberty Counsel, a Christian legal group, announced that a settlement it called historic has been reached with an Illinois hospital system over denying its employees a religious exemption to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

It’s unclear as to whether an Ontario nurse who received a religious exemption from COVID-19 vaccination based on Catholic faith will set a precedent for others arguing on similar grounds. 

Conservative MP Cathay Wagantall will not be allowed on the grounds of Canada’s Parliament as she has not provided proof of vaccination against COVID-19.

The Vatican updated its COVID-19 protocols, allowing most employees and visitors to enter Vatican City State without a vaccination certificate or proof of recovery.

A parishioner in Australia captured the moment when police interrupted Mass to demand that five people who were not wearing face masks comply with the law.

Government mandates that interfere with, or eliminate the ability of, the faithful to gather for Holy Mass are certainly not new. But has it ever been required to provide proof of a medical treatment to enter a church?

Cardinal Thomas Collins has added his applause for a federal bill protecting conscience rights of health-care professionals who refuse participation in medically assisted suicide.

While the Freedom Convoy 2022 demonstration in the nation’s capital, led by thousands of Canadian truckers, dominated headlines by its sheer size, a Catholic dimension has emerged in ongoing protests against COVID-19 restrictions.

A true mob is terrible to witness, much less get stuck in. Something happens when humans are pressed together in fear and anger: a feral scent is emitted, an emboldening and anxious spirit. Once unleashed, it crashes over and draws down all in its wake.

The small but agitated crowd at the front steps of the Catholic Centre in downtown Montreal mistook me for their saviour.

As of Dec. 20, anyone entering a place of worship in Quebec will be required to show their vaccination status.

Today, I phoned to book a haircut only to find that Pat, my stylist of the past two years, had died of the delta variant of COVID. When I last saw him in late August, he looked fit and healthy as ever. I phoned back a month later to set my next haircut appointment but was told Pat was off work because he was having back problems. He died shortly after that call.

At the end of a recent long run during which the state of the world is a staple of the conversational smorgasbord, my running partner asked a pressing perspicacious question: When, exactly, was conscience transferred from individual to collective ownership?

Over 19 months into the COVID-19 pandemic, all 225 parishes of the Archdiocese of Toronto have deftly avoided being an outbreak zone for the virus.

While the vast majority of the public has been compliant with safety measures in dealing with the pandemic, resistance to vaccination mandates, mask rules and other requirements has been high among ultra-conservative Catholic and evangelical groups.