Priests and doctors who gave their lives caring for the spiritual and physical wellbeing of others during the coronavirus pandemic are like Jesus – the good shepherd – who laid down his life for his flock, Pope Francis said.

We cannot allow globalisation to become “a new version of colonialism”, His Holiness Pope Francis has said in Querida Amazonia, the Apostolic Exhortation produced as a result of the recent Amazonian Synod in 2019.

Here are the texts of two prayers, written by Pope Francis, for the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. He is asking people to recite the rosary and pray these prayers afterward.

As the world slowly recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a risk it will be struck by an even worse virus – that of selfish indifference, Pope Francis said.

In an Easter celebration like no other, Pope Francis prayed that Christ, “who has already defeated death and opened for us the way to eternal salvation”, would “dispel the darkness of our suffering humanity and lead us into the light of his glorious day, a day that knows no end”.

On Easter Sunday last year, more than 250 were killed and at least 450 were injured in vicious bombings at three Christian churches, four hotels, and a housing complex in Sri Lanka.

As national and local governments have been issuing stay-at-home or shelter-in-place orders to curb the spread of the coronavirus, Pope Francis asked people to pray for and assist those who are homeless.

Scalabrinian priest Father Anthony Paganoni, who currently resides in the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic in Bergamo, Italy, has shared his brief observation and thoughts on the COVID-19 situation in Italy with The Record.

Tawonga is the youngest of six children and was born with one weaker leg, so she walks with the aid of crutches. Her siblings also used to push her three kilometres to school in a donated wheelchair. Photo: Pilirani Chimombo/Caritas Australia. In Malawi, a country where an estimated 2.4 per cent of youths are living with a disability, Caritas Australia is working alongside local communities...

By Cindy Wooden https://youtu.be/XowAqos2lLY In response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis says he will give an extraordinary blessing "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) at 6pm Rome time on 27 March. The formal blessing -- usually given only immediately after a new pope's election and on Christmas and Easter -- carries with it a plenary indulgence for all wh...