In France, the northern sanctuary of Lisieux, burial place of the St. Therese and her parents, Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin, closed its doors to pilgrims March 17, complying with a 14-day government curfew on all nonessential movement.

In London, Cardinal Vincent Nichols has asked the faithful to “dig deep into our traditions and our resources to make sure that our prayer maintains a eucharistic heart and a eucharistic center,” citing a tradition, little engaged in recent times, of “spiritual communion.”

Seeing the proselytizing success of the Jesuits in Eastern Europe, some Orthodox clerics decided to defend their expression of the faith using the very tools that were challenging it.

Pope Francis said, “The prayer of the rosary is the prayer of the humble and of the saints who, through its mysteries, contemplate with Mary the life of Jesus, the merciful face of the Father.”

Conditions at overcrowded refugee camps in Greece have become desperate, and Turkey has revived threats to renege on an agreement with the European community and to open its border allowing refugees through to Europe.

Francis counseled: “Don’t waste these difficult days,” instead “rediscover” the importance of “small, concrete gestures expressing closeness and concreteness toward the people closest to us, a caress for our grandparents, a kiss for our children, for the people we love.”