“We cannot turn a blind eye to these atrocities and yet still try to profess to respect every human life,” the bishops said. “We serve a God of love, mercy, and justice.”

Another near-invisible community similarly faces a serious and disproportionate threat from Covid-19; the people who live and work behind bars in the United States.

On March 25, hoping to suppress the spread of the coronavirus, India began the world’s largest lockdown, affecting 1.3 billion people. But the sudden move to close down all but essential services threw millions out of work and began a desperate exodus of migrant and day laborers out of the big cities.

As much as 75 percent of Lebanon’s population is in need of emergency assistance.

Health work during a pandemic can be dangerous and the thought of falling ill themselves cannot be too far from the minds of medical and sanitation teams. But thousands of other relief and development staff and volunteers will face many of the same risks and fears.

The U.S. census has long had trouble counting groups like young children, reports Kevin Clarke, and the coronavirus is likely to throw the accuracy of the data into deeper doubt.

“We cannot let this moment of pandemic, which calls us all to unity as God’s children, become the occasion for further prejudice, exclusion and injustice.”

Pope Francis said in an Easter Sunday message that the coronavirus epidemic could also be an opportunity for affluent societies to re-evaluate patterns of consumption and exploitation.

While the Covid-19 pandemic provokes a series of unprecedented measures, other ongoing challenges to human life and dignity—drought, famine, armed conflict and poverty among them—are not offering a time-out from the suffering they inflict.

Father Baker, president of Xavier High School in Micronesia, knew how strongly the school featured in the lives of his students, but he was not prepared for the reaction after he called students together and shared the bad news that the school was ending early.