Notebook   Recently, I had a conversation with a friend whose husband died some months ago. She is desperately lonely and that loneliness is made far worse because her children and grandchildren cannot visit her during these Covid-19 Days. But it is the loss of her husband, her best friend that brings the greatest loneliness:…

Just as the coronavirus (Covid-19) took hold in America – and all over Europe – the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, familiarly known as Harry and Meghan, launched their new project. This is a charitable foundation called ‘Archewell’, and it will replace their previous ‘Sussex Royal’ brand, which, having chucked their relationship with British royalty,…

The View   Before I sat down to write this article on Easter Sunday evening, I went for a long walk. It was a cold dry evening and the sun was setting. As I walked along the roads near my home I observed the houses, all shut up, the cars parked, the roads quiet. A…

We shouldn’t take for granted the moral revolution that Christianity started in the world, writes David Quinn   Sometimes you read something that really sticks in your mind. Recently I came across one of those facts, namely that the first hospital in Wuhan, the city in China where this coronavirus originated, was founded by an…

Letter from Rome Christopher 
White   On the same day that Pope Francis was elected in 2013, the head of the World Council of Churches (WCC) was meeting with colleagues discussing how to “develop a wholeness in our ecumenical work” when he offered the example of Francis of Assisi. “He [Francis of Assisi] is a…

Eduardo Campos Lima   Catholic leaders in Brazil have criticised the response of the country’s President Jair Bolsonaro to the coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak, saying he has not implemented common measures such as social distancing. The Church in Brazil has defended the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendations, an attitude that many of Bolsonaro’s backers see as…

Notebook   What strange times we’re in! Because of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, many of the institutions that make up our daily landscape are now lying quiet: churches, banks, GAA clubs, offices and schools. But at the same time another social institution is bustling and draws nearly all our attention: the hospital. In these times…

We find ourselves entering the strangest Easter Triduum we have ever known. We will not gather for the Mass of the Lord’s Supper and the washing of feet. We will not kiss the cross. We will not light the night with paschal flames and banish the darkness as we proclaim the resurrection. There is no…

Even the grimmest times – as this Holy Week will be for many – bring revelations. And one of the aspects of the coronavirus (Covid-19) that most puzzles experts and scientists is – why are men much more likely to fall victim to the pandemic than women? Men in their 40s and 50s are more…