Tag Archives: pope francis

Rome, Italy | AFP | Pope Francis stepped up his battle against corruption in the Vatican Monday with a new law aimed at boosting transparency in tenders and cutting costs as a post-coronavirus recession hits. Convicted mobsters and those guilty of tax fraud are among a list of undesirables now unable to pocket contracts. The …

Milan, Italy | AFP | On a street in Milan, the capital of Italy’s Lombardy region, which has been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis begs for alms, his cassock in tatters. In another, the Argentine pontiff lies on a cardboard mattress, his famous black briefcase under his head as a pillow. …

Moscow, Russia | AFP |  More than 260 million Orthodox Christians celebrated Easter Sunday, with church leaders asking worshippers to stay at home to avoid spreading the novel coronavirus. Orthodox Christians, the world’s third largest group of Christian believers, this year celebrate Easter a week after Catholics and Protestants because they …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis prayed Monday for the growing number of women subjected to domestic abuse while living under coronavirus lockdown. The Argentine pontiff livestreamed an Easter Monday prayer from his private library as the Vatican and Italy entered a second month of restrictions on most outdoor activities. Worries about …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP |  Pope Francis offered a prayer for coronavirus victims in an unprecedented livestream Easter Sunday message delivered from a hauntingly empty Vatican to a world under lockdown. The 83-year-old pontiff spoke softly at a solemn ceremony attended by just a handful of priests and a …

Rome, Italy | AFP |  Billions around the world celebrated Easter Sunday from lockdown at home as the pope urged solidarity to fight the coronavirus pandemic and the European death toll from the virus topped 75,000. Unprecedented scenes of empty churches emerged from Italy to Panama and the Philippines, as religious …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis will break with centuries of tradition and livestream Easter Sunday mass to allow the world’s 1.3 billion Catholics celebrate their holiest holiday under a coronavirus lockdown. Fear and confusion in the face of a disease whose official death toll has soared past …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP |  Church doors will be shut and the Vatican sealed off when Pope Francis leads 1.3 billion Catholics in Easter Sunday celebrations held under a worldwide coronavirus lockdown. Fear and confusion in the face of a disease whose toll has unrelentingly climbed towards 100,000 are …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis decried “unjust” sentences against “innocent” people on Tuesday, hours after Australian Cardinal George Pell walked free from prison following the quashing of his conviction for child sex abuse. Australia’s High Court overturned five counts of sexually abusing two 13-year-old choirboys in the …

Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis was reported Thursday to have tested negative for the novel coronavirus after a person in his residence was said to have contacted COVID-19. Several Italian newspapers with reputable sources in the Vatican said the Italian clergyman who got sick had lived for …