Pope Francis speaks in an empty St. Peter’s Square during a Holy Hour and extraordinary urbi et orbi blessing, March 27, 2020. / Credit: Vatican Media
CNA Staff, Mar 11, 2025 / 06:00 am (CNA).
Five years ago, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the COVID-19 pandemic. Days later, on March 15, 2020, life as we knew it changed as lockdowns went into effect.
Remembering those early days and the many months that followed brings up painful memories, grief, and anxiety for many, but there were grace-filled moments that punctured the fear and uncertainty.
As the world marks five years since the pandemic began, CNA takes a look back in images at some of the moving moments that showed the grace and mercy of God in action.
Pope Francis gives an extraordinary urbi et orbi blessing in St. Peter’s Square, March 27, 2020. Credit: Vatican Media
A woman prays alone during the COVID-19 lockdowns at Our Lady of Angels Church in Brooklyn, New York. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno
Bishop Peter Baldacchino of the Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico, celebrates Mass in a parking lot during the COVID-19 lockdown on April 9, 2020. Credit: David McNamara/Diocese of Las Cruces
Father Don Giuseppe celebrates the Mass in front of portraits and selfies sent by the parishioners on March 17, 2020, in Robbiano, Italy. Credit: Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images
A priest uses gloves and a mask to give Communion to the faithful during Mass at the Church of Sant’Eugenio in Rome on May 18, 2020. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA
Sister Anne Kateri of the Franciscan Sisters of the Renewal turns to the internet to bring the Gospel to the faithful who were unable to gather for Mass during the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno
Father Kenard Tuzenue celebrates Mass in the parking lot of St. Mary’s Parish in Barnegat/Manahawkin, New Jersey. Credit: Jeffrey Bruno
Health care staff attend Mass at the Hotel Dieu de France Hospital on May 8, 2020, in the COVID-19 section of the hospital located in the eastern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. Credit: Hotel Dieu de France Hospital/AFP via Getty Images
Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell looks at candles placed on an altar representing people who lost their lives during the coronavirus pandemic during a nondenominational memorial service in Long Beach, California, on Nov. 14, 2020. Credit: Apu Gomes/AFP via Getty Images
A Catholic Church in England during the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: Mazur/cbcew.org.uk
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Washington D.C., Jul 25, 2019 / 10:32 am (CNA).- The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops spoke out Thursday against new Department of Homeland Security policies that includes the expedited removal of undocumented migrants who cannot prove to an immigration officer they have lived in the United States for two continuous years.
“This action is yet another escalation of this Administration’s enforcement-only immigration approach, and it will have terrible human consequences,” Bishop Joe Vásquez of Austin, Texas, Chair of the of the US bishops’ migration committee, said in a July 25 statement.
The DHS said in a July 19 notice that the new policy is meant to harmonize existing policies that treated migrants arriving by land and by sea differently. Expedited removal has existed in US immigration law since 1996.
Previously, the DHS could designate illegal aliens for expedited removal “within 100 air miles of the border and within 14 days of their date of entry regardless of the alien’s method of arrival.” The new policy allows DHS to expedite the removal of any undocumented immigrant anywhere in the United States, provided they are unable to prove they have been in the country less than two years.
The bishops called the new policy “unjust” and said it will stoke “fear in our communities.”
“The new policy will allow for the deportation of many more individuals without providing them an opportunity to seek legal counsel and have a hearing before an immigration judge,” he argued.
The DHS notice stated that undocumented immigrants can apply for asylum when they are apprehended, potentially delaying an immediate deportation until a credible-fear hearing and a determination is made, NPR reports.
“Even those migrants who have long-standing ties to the U.S. and have been in the country for more than the requisite two years required under the new policy may now be subjected to expedited removal if they are unable to prove such to the satisfaction of an individual immigration officer,” the bishop said.
The DHS is seeking public comment on the new policy.
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jan 23, 2025 / 09:15 am (CNA).
Every Democrat in the U.S Senate on Wednesday voted against legislation that would have required doctors to provide lifesaving health care to infant… […]
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