Pope Francis is calling us all to consider Mary not as an abstract helper but as a mother who has a proven track record of healing, protecting and watching over her people. 

“In these days of trial, as humanity trembles at the threat of the [coronavirus] pandemic, I would propose that all Christians join their voices together to heaven,” Pope Francis said.

Online donations may not be enough to compensate for the lack of a weekly collection plate in U.S. dioceses, writes Michael J, O'Loughlin, and Catholic charitable organizations are also being affected.

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.

The decree states that the faithful can gain this plenary indulgence in a variety of ways while the pandemic lasts, such as by praying before the Blessed Sacrament, making Eucharistic Adoration or reading the Sacred Scriptures for a half an hour or more.

Until the canonization of St. Romero in 2018, there were no official Salvadoran saints, though many Salvadorans throughout the decades, since the 1980 killing of St. Romero, prayed for his intercession and long considered him a holy person.