In one day, the Catholic Church on three continents lost three leaders to COVID-19.

The Vatican asked priests to take special anti-COVID-19 precautions this year when distributing ashes on Ash Wednesday, including sprinkling ashes on the top of people's heads rather than making a cross on people's foreheads.

The breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 sent shock waves around the world.

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced Pope Francis to cancel his annual celebration of infant baptisms on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.

The White House issued a proclamation honoring the 850th anniversary of the martyrdom of St. Thomas Becket Dec. 29 and inviting "the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches and customary places of meeting with appropriate ceremonies."

The head of the German bishops’ conference called for far-reaching changes to the Catholic Church and criticized the Vatican’s treatment of the church in his country.

"This Advent, the Lord comes to love us even though we don't deserve it. Let us repent and embrace his gift," the committee chairmen said in a Dec. 7 statement.

The president of the U.S. bishops said the findings mark “another tragic chapter in the church's long struggle to confront the crimes of sexual abuse by clergy.”

“We thank God for the blessings of liberty. The American people have spoken in this election,” Archbishop Gomez said, congratulating Biden and Harris on behalf of the U.S. bishops.

Demonstrators burned two Catholic churches in Chile, where gatherings to mark the one-year anniversary of mass protests against inequality descended into chaos.