Cindy Wooden

Discovering one's vocation to marriage, priesthood or religious life and making the decision to embrace it takes courage, Pope Francis said.

In response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis said he will give an extraordinary blessing "urbi et orbi" (to the city and the world) at 6 p.m. Rome time March 27.

While conferences and meetings can be postponed for months because of the coronavirus pandemic, the liturgies of Holy Week and Easter cannot, with the exception of the chrism Mass, said the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.

People who cannot get to confession because of the coronavirus lockdown or another serious reason can go to God directly, be specific about their sins, request pardon and experience God's loving forgiveness, Pope Francis said.

The Vatican office that distributes free tickets to papal events has posted a notice on its website that "the liturgical celebrations of Holy Week will take place without the physical presence of the faithful."

Public Masses are banned throughout Italy, but literally thousands of Masses are celebrated each day and, in addition to watching them on television or computer screens, the faithful can receive "spiritual Communion."

With Italy on lockdown and Rome streets almost deserted, Pope Francis left the Vatican March 15 in a mini-pilgrimage to an icon and to a crucifix associated with miraculous interventions to save the city and its people.

Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, papal vicar of Rome, said he spoke to Pope Francis March 12 before ordering the closure of all churches in Rome because of the coronavirus pandemic; the next day, he said he spoke to the pope again and modified his order.

Acknowledging how difficult it can be to adapt to restrictive measures aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus, Pope Francis told people watching his morning Mass March 12 that it was for "our own good."

Pope Francis dedicated his third livestreamed morning Mass to prisoners suffering because Italian government measures to stop the spread of the coronavirus have included the suspension of visits by family and friends.

Pope Francis did not recite the Sunday Angelus from the window of his studio overlooking St. Peter's Square March 8, but he did go to the window to wave and to bless the pilgrims who showed up anyway.

Pope Francis has decided the next world Synod of Bishops at the Vatican, which will take place in October 2022, will have the theme: "For a synodal church: Communion, participation and mission."

A lack of faith and a misunderstanding of marriage can mean no sacramental marriage occurred, even if both the husband and wife had been baptized, said a new document.

With the biggest two days of celebration and costume parades left, the famous pre-Lenten "Carnevale" of Venice was canceled as were Ash Wednesday services and even funeral Masses throughout the diocese.

The only acceptable form of extremism for a Christian is an "extremism of love," Pope Francis said, concelebrating Mass with bishops from throughout the Mediterranean basin.

When the U.S. bishops began their "ad limina" visits in early November, many of them were wearied by dozens of challenges, but especially a sense of responsibility for the victims of clerical sexual abuse and knowing how they and their brother bishops failed so many of them.

The 12-year process of updating the Code of Canon Law section dealing with crimes and penalties was necessary "to make it more organic and responsive to new situations and problems," Pope Francis said.

The decade-long process of updating the laws of Vatican City State is part of the Vatican's support for international commitments to protect people and safeguard vulnerable groups, who are "frequently the victims of new, odious forms of illegality," Pope Francis said.

Pope Francis, adopting a suggestion made at the Synod of Bishops for the Amazon, has decided that every priest preparing for service in the Vatican diplomatic corps must spend a year in ministry as a missionary.

Jesus wants his followers to move from a formal observance of God's commands to an interior acceptance of them and, in that way, to no longer be slaves to sin and selfishness, Pope Francis said.