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kf94, “I wish, again, to express my closeness to those who are ill with coronavirus and to health-care workers who are caring for them, the pope said. Pope Francis gives his speech during the general audience as faithful wear masks in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) Francis prayed for the thousands of victims of the virus affected globally, which includes 300 in Italy, and the medical personnel treating them, before he looped through the square in his popemobile, shaking hands with pilgrims in the front row and kissing at least one baby.
kf94 - HUNDREDS PRAY AT WESTERN WALL FOR CURE TO CORONAVIRUS: 'GOD HAS THE POWER TO SEND HEALING' Later in the day, Francis will celebrate an Ash Wednesday Mass at a Rome church, marking the start of Lent, the 40-day period of fasting and prayer leading up to Holy Week and Easter. The patriarchate of Venice canceled the service at St. Mark's Basilica, after a cluster of elderly people tested positive for the virus. The region is home to the second-largest outbreak in Italy. Catholics wear protective masks during Ash Wednesday rites Feb. 26, 2020 in Paranaque, metropolitan Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
kf94, In the Philippines, Asia's only majority Roman Catholic country, priests avoided physical contact by sprinkling ashes on the heads of the faith instead of making the mark of the cross on their foreheads. “Wherever the ash is placed, on the forehead or on the head, the feeling is the same, it’s uplifting,” Editha Lorenzo, a 49-year-old mother of two wearing a face mask, told The Associated Press in Manila. “It’s better to be cautious,” said churchgoer Evet Accion.
kf94 - Catholic nuns sprinkle ash on the head of devotees during Ash Wednesday rites Feb. 26, 2020 in Paranaque, metropolitan Manila, Philippines. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila) Bishops in the Philippines have already started suggesting churchgoers refrain from kissing or touching the cross on Good Friday, April 10. “Instead, the faithful are requested to genuflect or make a profound bow as they venerate the cross,” Archbishop Romulo Valles, who heads the bishops’ conference, said. CLICK HERE FOR MORE STORIES ON FAITH
kf94 - At least seven American universities have canceled study abroad programs, namely in Italy, which has seen a surge in cases of the deadly coronavirus in recent days. Fairfield University student Kevin Kryzwick is currently studying abroad in Florence, Italy and says most U.S. students are disappointed to be returning home so soon, but glad to be evacuating out of harm's way. Universities across the U.S. have canceled study abroad programs amid the continued spread of the deadly coronavirus, which began in the Chinese city of Wuhan but has since impacted dozens of countries. There are now more than 80,000 individual cases of the novel virus – known as COVID-19 – worldwide, while over 2,700 people have died in the outbreak, according to Wednesday estimates.