International News

OXFORD, England -- When Father Peio Sanchez founded his "field hospital" in an old monastery building in Barcelona, Spain, in 2017, he hoped it would offer some refuge to the Mediterranean city's 3,300 homeless inhabitants.

ROME -- At least 39 people at a Rome pontifical university tested positive for the coronavirus, the rector said.

ROME -- The Italian bishops' conference accused the government of adopting plans to ease the country's COVID-19 lockdown rules in a way that "arbitrarily excludes the possibility of celebrating Mass with the people."

AMMAN, Jordan -- Religious freedom advocates and medical practitioners have expressed concerns about the COVID-19 response in northeast Syria.

WARSAW, Poland -- Poland's Catholic bishops have urged nationwide prayers for rain, amid warnings huge areas of farmland could be ruined by drought during the COVID-19 pandemic.

VATICAN CITY -- To mark his name day, the feast of St. George, Pope Francis gave the gift of medical supplies to several countries reeling from the coronavirus pandemic.

JERUSALEM -- When the Israeli Ministry of Health asked St. Joseph's Hospital to set up a coronavirus unit, the hospital had it completed within a week.

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio -- In response to the unprecedented economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, Franciscan University of Steubenville announced it will cover the remainder of tuition costs, after scholarships and grants have been applied, for the fall 2020 semester for all incoming full-time undergraduate students enrolled in its on-campus programs.

ROME -- Dozens of refugees sheltering in an abandoned office building have tested positive for the coronavirus, triggering concerns for the welfare of the hundreds more still living there in crowded and unsanitary conditions.

ROME -- As the Italian government makes plans for a gradual return to normality after the COVID-19 pandemic, representatives of the country's bishops' conference are meeting with the Ministry of Internal Affairs to discuss a resumption of public Masses and, especially, of funerals.