These changes correspond to Italian government restrictions on large public gatherings to limit transmission of coronavirus.

The Friday reflections in Lent, like in Advent, usually are led by the official "preacher of the papal household," who, for the past 40 years, has been Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa.

What became clear over these past seven years is Francis’ unrelenting commitment to creating opportunities for open and mutual encounters between him and others.

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.”

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.

Catholic Relief Services, which works in more than 110 countries, is "restricting all but the most mission-critical travel, with contingency operational plans in place should the disease take hold in any of the countries where the organization operates."