VANCOUVER -- Three Christian churches are appealing a B.C. Supreme Court judge’s ruling in favour of the prohibition on in-person religious gatherings in this province.

The day Presentation Manor went into lockdown for COVID-19 was Charles Hendrick’s birthday, but he wasn’t there to celebrate. He had died the previous October of pancreatic cancer.

MOUNT OF BEATITUDES, Israel -- The palm tree fronds in the convent garden of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary rustle loudly in the brisk wind of an early spring dust storm, but, stepping into the chapel of the Church of the Beatitudes, there is silence.

Think back a year ago … to an Easter Sunday that reverberated with fear and anxiety as the world’s people tried to grasp the enormity of COVID-19.

VANCOUVER -- B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson has upheld the public health order banning in-person religious services in British Columbia.

Restrictions on places of worship in grey lockdown zones will be loosened and churches will be able to host services with up to 15 per cent of their capacity as of March 15.

Toronto’s Cardinal Thomas Collins is sending a clear message to Queen’s Park: It’s time for a “fair and equitable approach to the return to worship.”

As Quebec movie theatres welcome up to 250 patrons as pandemic protocols begin to loosen, churches remain limited to only 10 people — including the presiding priest — at worship services.

VATICAN CITY -- For believers, the ability to practice their faith and receive spiritual guidance are "the highest of essential services," and pandemic practices over the past year have shown they are not automatically super-spreader events, the Vatican foreign minister said.

VATICAN CITY -- Two days after the Iraqi government announced stringent COVID-19 precautions, including the closure of mosques and churches “until further notice,” the prime minister met with the Vatican nuncio to discuss preparations for the scheduled visit of Pope Francis.

VANCOUVER -- Catholic lawyers in the Archdiocese of Vancouver are adding their voices to the growing numbers calling for the B.C. government to end its ban on worship services.

Lockdowns brought upon by COVID-19 over the past 11 months have spawned a number of activities to keep peoples minds and spirits up.

Canadian churches faced new restrictions as public health officials tried to contain a post-holiday surge of COVID-19.

Already vulnerable and alone, many homeless and at risk youth are finding themselves dealing with more than the coronavirus and its restrictions this Christmas. To them, loneliness is another pandemic.

ROME -- As rumblings and grumblings grew in the press and on social media, the permanent council of the Italian bishops' conference met to discuss the problem of Christmas "midnight Mass" when the government has imposed a 10 p.m. curfew as part of its measures to slow the spread of the coronavirus.