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COVID-19

Names of the parishioners of Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in Swaziland's Manzini Diocese pinned on benches. / Bishop Jose Luis Ponce de Leon

What a Cleric in Swaziland Has Done to Keep Faithful Engaged During COVID-19

Apr 10, 2020

All was well at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Parish in the Diocese of Manzini in the Southern Africa nation of Eswatini, popularly known as Swaziland, until Fr. Francis Onyango announced that Public Mass had been suspended. Fr. Onyango made the announcement that pierced the heart of an elderly woman who was attending Mass that morning on Wednesday, March 18.

An African Bishop reaching out to needy people affected by COVID-19 restrictions. / ACN

Catholic Aid Agency Commits Over US$5 million to Priests, Nuns in COVID-19 Prone Missions

Apr 10, 2020

Priests and nuns ministering among those considered vulnerable to COVID-19 in various parts of the world including Africa stand to benefit from a €5M (US$5.43 million) grant that Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) International has set aside, the Germany-based Catholic organization has announced.

Bishop Edward Hiiboro Kussala of  Tombura-Yambio diocese, South Sudan.

Even with COVID-19, “Churches must remain open in our hearts”: South Sudanese Bishop

Apr 10, 2020

As governments struggle to contain the spread of COVID-19, reinforcing preventive measures, a South Sudanese Catholic Bishop has encouraged Christians to recognize the fact that as people of God, they are the church that “must remain open” amid directives to close church buildings.

Archbishop Ignatius Kaigama of Nigeria’s Abuja Archdiocese with the Secretary to the Federal Government (SGF), Boss Gidahyelda Mustapha during the Wednesday, April 8 audience in Abuja, Nigeria. / CBCN

Church in Nigeria Grants Government “full access to” All Catholic Health Facilities

Apr 9, 2020

In a move to boost Nigeria government’s efforts to contain COVID-19 in the country, Catholic Bishops in Africa’s most populous nation have granted their country’s task force overseeing the pandemic “full access to” all health facilities, which the Catholic Church owns, a Church official has reported.

Archbishop John Bonaventure Kwofie with Patrick Darko Missah during donation exercise at the Ghana prisons headquarters, Tuesday, April 7 2020.

Church in Ghana Lauded for Taking Fight against COVID -19 to Prisons

Apr 9, 2020

The Catholic Church in Ghana has been applauded for responding promptly to a special appeal from the Administration of the Ghana Prisons Service to donate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to help avert the spread of COVID-19 in the 44 Prisons in the West African country that has a total of 15,000 inmates.

Phillip Cardinal Ouédraogo, President of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), currently being treated for COVID-19.

African Cardinal Hospitalized for COVID-19 Calls for “solidarity” in Tackling Pandemic

Apr 8, 2020

The Archbishop of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, Phillip Cardinal Ouédraogo who was hospitalized at the end of last month for COVID-19 has, in his message on the occasion of Palm Sunday celebrated April 5, called for solidarity in the care for patients diagnosed with the virus that has claimed at least 82,000 lives globally.

Fr. Gérard Lagleder and some of his staff in an Order of Malta clinic in Mandeni, South Africa. / Vatican News

Rome-based Catholic Lay Religious Order Supporting Fight against COVID-19 in Africa

Apr 8, 2020

The Order of Malta, a Rome-based Catholic lay Religious Order that is active in some 120 countries, is supporting efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Africa where the centuries old institution is present in over 30 nations.

Fridolin Ambongo Cardinal Besungu, Archbishop of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo

After Ebola, COVID-19 Outbreak "would be a disaster," DR Congolese Cardinal Cautions

Apr 8, 2020

As countries put in place measures to contain the spread of COVID-19, a Cardinal in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has cautioned that the spread of the pandemic in the Central African nation would be disastrous, as the country does not have the capability of handling another outbreak, soon after struggling over the years to fight Ebola epidemic.

Bishop Emmanuel Badejo blessing the oils during the Chrism Mass at  at Our Lady of Assumption Cathedral Oyo, April 7, 2020. / Oyo Diocese

"We are compelled to ask God to heal our world": Nigerian Bishop at Chrism Mass

Apr 8, 2020

The call for divine intervention to heal the world including the people of God affected by COVID-19, a pandemic that has occasioned unprecedented restrictions, is a key highlight of Bishop Emmanuel Badejo’s Chrism Mass message for the Priests in his diocese of Oyo, Nigeria.

Funeral Mass of Late Archbishop Emeritus Raphael Ndingi Mwana a’Nzeki  at Holy Family Basilica in Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi, Tuesday, April 7, 2020.

Celebrated Kenyan Prelate Accorded Low-Key Burial, President Promises Future Mourning Day

Apr 8, 2020

About 100 mourners who wore white and blue face masks as a measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19 gathered at Holy Family Basilica in Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi, to bid farewell to a distinguished Catholic Archbishop who died on March 30 after nearly 60 years of shepherding the people of God the East African country.

Official Logo Union of the African Catholic Press (UCAP). / UCAP

Catholic Journalists in Africa Urged “to spot, debunk misinformation” about COVID-19

Apr 7, 2020

Catholic journalists in Africa are being encouraged to take up the responsibility of identifying and exposing fake news about COVID-19 in the face of increasing misinformation on the pandemic that has claimed over 74,000 lives globally, with at least 1.33 million confirmed cases.

Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama of Nigeria’s Abuja Archdiocese, while presiding at the Palm Sunday Mass at Our Lady Queen of Nigeria Pro-Cathedral in the country’s capital city.

How COVID-19 Reduced Mighty and Small Nations to the Same Level: Nigerian Archbishop

Apr 7, 2020

A Catholic Archbishop in Nigeria, while addressing the adverse effects of COVID-19, has said that the disease has reduced humanity to the same level even as governments across the world battle the pandemic that has indiscriminately caused thousands of deaths, social disorder and a plunge in economic systems.

Former Ghanaian President, John Dramani Mahama, while addressing Hospital staff at donation of hospital equipment to fight the COVID-19, Saturday, April 4, 2020.

With COVID-19, “political, religious, social differences evaporated”: Ghana’s Ex-President

Apr 7, 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and its toll on Ghana where 214 reported cases of the disease have been confirmed has brought the country together in ways never witnessed before, according to former Ghanaian President, John Dramani Mahama.

Fr. Tesfaye Petros Botachew, the Apostolic Administrator of Gambella Vicariate. / Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat

After Ethiopia’s Gambella Bishop Succumbed to COVID-19, Vicariate Gets Administrator

Apr 7, 2020

Following the demise of Bishop Angelo Moreschi of Ethiopia’s Gambella Vicariate, the first Catholic Prelate known to have died of COVID-19, an Apostolic Administrator has been appointed for the missionary ecclesiastical territory in the Western part of the country that is dependent upon the Vatican-based Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.

Pope Francis prays during Palm Sunday Mass April 5, 2020. / Vatican Media/CNA.

Pope Francis on Palm Sunday: Let Us Stand Before the Crucifix in Our Homes

Apr 5, 2020

On Palm Sunday, Pope Francis offered Mass in a nearly empty St. Peter’s Basilica and urged Catholics quarantined at home to remember "what really matters" in life: loving God and serving others.

Catholic Bishops' Conference of Liberia / @cabicoliberia

Social Distancing Influences Holy Week Celebration Guidelines in Liberia

Apr 5, 2020

The government directive on social distancing aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19 has had an influence on Holy Week celebrations in many nations of the world, including the West African country of Liberia where Catholic Bishops have issued guidelines that conform to the social distance restriction.

Bishop John MacWilliams of Algeria's Laghouat Diocese

Not Much Change for Algeria’s Church amid COVID-19

Apr 4, 2020

In a country where the faithful go for months without celebrating Holy Mass due to a shortage of Priests, the Church in Algeria is experiencing very little disruption owing to the spread of COVID-19 that has forced worshippers in many parts of the world to miss Mass.

Bishop Sithembele Sipuka of Mthatha diocese, South Africa.

COVID-19 Measures "may call clergy, religious to share our own food": South African Bishop

Apr 4, 2020

As South Africans continue to observe the 21-day nation-wide lockdown declared to control the spread of COVID-19, the Bishop of Mthatha diocese has called on the clergy and religious in his diocese to consider making sacrifices that would include giving from their own food reserves to help those adversely affected by the stay-at-home directive.

Archbishop Samuel Kleda of Douala, who has practiced herbalism over the years says medicinal plants can be tried as a possible cure of the coronavirus.

“Traditional medicine can fight Coronavirus,” Cameroonian Prelate, Herbalist, Says

Apr 4, 2020

As governments across the globe battle to contain the spread of COVID-19 with medical researchers working around the clock to find a cure, a Cameroonian Catholic Archbishop who has practiced herbalism over the years has said that medicinal plants can be tried as a possible cure of the coronavirus.

Bishop Ignace Bessi Dogbo, Bishop of Katiola, Ivory Coast, President of the Episcopal Conference of the Ivory Coast (CECCI)

“Universal charity, solidarity, prayer” Necessary in Combating COVID-19: Ivorian Bishop

Apr 4, 2020

There is a necessity for governments around the world to join hands in the fight against COVID-19 if the disease that has infected at least one million people across the globe and claimed tens of thousands of lives is to be managed in good time, an Ivorian Bishop has said.