Dominican Sister Donna Markham, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, said some Catholic Charities agencies in COVID-19 hot spots such as New York, Chicago, Detroit, New Orleans and Los Angeles are facing unprecedented requests for assistance.

Pope Francis said he knows it is not easy to be creative as the lockdown drags on, "but don't run away, don't take refuge in escapism, which in this time is of no use to you."

Archbishop Jose H. Gomez, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, reminds fellow Catholics that in this pandemic crisis, "Christ is not quarantined" and that the Lord's love is always available to those who seek it.

Amid the global pandemic of Covid-19 that has spread throughout this Lenten season, calling on the Mother of Sorrows feels all the more urgent.

In other circumstances, however, the current crisis is the result of abandonment "from afar" when it comes to not providing enough assistance and therapeutic care for the elderly, the dicastery added.

The law also includes a provision for church employees who are laid off from entities that do not participate in a state or a private unemployment insurance program to receive jobless benefits.