The normal services of the health and hygiene sector of the Vatican city-state were “temporarily suspended” following yesterday’s positive test for Covid-19 on one patient in order “to sanitize the areas.”

The coronavirus poses a threat that knows no borders. As Catholics, neither does our love and concern for our neighbors.

The Lenten season has begun, and more Nigerians are likely to attend religious gatherings. To stall a possible outbreak, however, Archbishop Alfred Martins of the Archdiocese of Lagos said contact should be restricted.

The affected areas were in the West Bank: Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Beit Sahour and Jericho for 14 days following seven reported cases of the coronavirus in the Bethlehem and Beit Jala area.

In a small indication of how rapidly the contagion is affecting Italy, by the time the Vatican spokesman sent his communique to the media, the number of victims had risen dramatically—the total number of cases rising to 3,858 and deaths to 148.

The Dominican sisters are motivated by a recognition that the blinding racism that allowed nuns to buy and sell human beings in the past could blind them to their own complicity in racist structure today.