Pope Francis delivers an extraordinary Urbi et Orbi blessing from an empty St. Peter's Square as a response to the global coronavirus pandemic on March 27. (Photo: Vatican Media)
The coronavirus pandemic has thrown a wrench in the whole world's plans.
The fact of the matter is that we must stop our normal activity, especially if it includes gathering in any proximity to other people.
We must stop life as we once knew it until scientists find a cure or a vaccine for Covid-19. Otherwise, there is a risk that hundreds of thousands or even millions more people will die.
Here in Italy, where more than 25,000 have died of the coronavirus, we are completing the sixth week of home confinement. That's right — a month-and-a-half of serious lockdown.
….As we enter the first months of 2022, we are asking readers like you to help us keep UCA News free.
For the last 40 years, UCA News has remained the most trusted and independent Catholic news and information service from Asia. Every week, we publish nearly 100 news reports, feature stories, commentaries, podcasts and video broadcasts that are exclusive and in-depth, and developed from a view of the world and the Church through informed Catholic eyes.
Our journalistic standards are as high as any in the quality press; our focus is particularly on a fast-growing part of the world - Asia - where, in some countries the Church is growing faster than pastoral resources can respond to – South Korea, Vietnam and India to name just three.
And UCA News has the advantage of having in its ranks local reporters who cover 23 countries in south, southeast, and east Asia. We report the stories of local people and their experiences in a way that Western news outlets simply don’t have the resources to reach. And we report on the emerging life of new Churches in old lands where being a Catholic can at times be very dangerous.
With dwindling support from funding partners in Europe and the USA, we need to call on the support of those who benefit from our work.
